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COPyRIGIlT DEPOSIT. 




M. IR'BBARD. 



Notes of a Private 



By 

JOHN MILTON HUBBARD 

Company E, 7th Tennessee Regiment, 
Forrest's Cavalry Corps, C. S. A. 



Nihil scriptum miraculi causz— Tacitus. 
Forsan et h>ec olim meminisse juvabit — Virgil. 



PUBLISHED BY 

E. H. CLARKE & BROTHER 

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE 

1909. 






Copyrighted. 1909. by 
J. M. Hubbard. 



LiSfiARY of CONGRESS! 

Two CoDi?s Received 

JUN 2a )8U9 

Copyrijint Entry 

cL.'ji-'^ '•••"■■ ^O'i 



To (hose Souther7i soldiers who, regardless 
of their sentiments as to the abstract right of 
secession, whether sleeping in known or 
ttnknowfi graves, hobbling through life on 
crutches, or trying to meet the demands of 
the best citizenship, went itito the Confeder- 
ate Army at the behest of an overwhelming 
majority of the Southern people, and who 
remained in the field to the bitter end, this 
little book is most respectfully inscribed by 
THE A UTHOR. 



Gainesville, Ala., May 11, 1865. 
Private J. M. Hubbard of Company E, Seventh 
Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry, C. S. A., residing in 
Hardeman County, Tennessee, having been, with the 
approval of the proper authorities, paroled, is per- 
mitted to return to his home, not to be disturbed by 
the United States authorities, so long as he observes 
his parole and the laws in force where he may reside. 
By order 

E. R. S. CANBY, 
Major-General, U. S. A. 
E. S. DENNIS, 
Brig.-Gen. Commanding for U. S. 

I certify on honor that the within-named soldier is 
the rightful owner of one horse. 

HARDY HARRIS, 
Lieutenant Commanding Co. E, 7th Tenn. Cavalry, 

C. S. A. 



PREFACE. 

In writing this book the author has relied almost 
entirely on his own memory for such reminiscences, 
sketches and portraitures of character as are printed 
on its pages. He served the entire period of the 
Civil War in Company E, Seventh Tennessee Cav- 
alry, which regiment was commanded successively 
by Colonels W. II. Jackson, J. G. Stocks and W. L. 
Duckworth, assisted by Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. 
Taylor and Major C. C. Clay. Few private soldiers 
saw more of the war, or had better opportunities for 
observation. His company served in parts of five 
States, and traveled thousands of miles under the 
orders of many different generals. He believes that 
a careful perusal of these pages will afford enter- 
tainment to people who admire Southern valor, and 
amusement and instruction to girls and boys who 
will, perhaps, be stimulated thereby to read more 
pretentious books concerning the greatest war of 
modern times. This belief and a keen desire to pre- 
serve in permanent form some sort of memento for 
his own and the descendants of the members of the 
old company have chiefly prompted him in under- 
taking a task which, while a work of love, has 
required much labor to accomplish. He trusts that in 
the form and style of the book and in the manner of 
presentation of the varied list of subjects, even the 
partiality of friends will find little to excuse. 

378 Lauderdale Street, 

Memphis, Term. 
June 1, 1909. 



CHAPTER I. 

MUSTERING IN — "GOOD-BYE, 

SWEETHEARTS." 



I am to write here of men with whom I was asso- 
ciated in a great war, and of things in which I was a 
participant. To do even and exact justice shall be 
my aim, and there shall be no motive other than to 
give truthful accounts of men and events as they 
came under my personal observation. 

When we mounted our horses at the Bills Corner, 
in Bolivar, Tennessee, and started for the war, 
there were one hundred and one of us. This 
company was composed largely of a jolly, rollicking 
set of young men from the farms of Hardeman 
County, who knew little of restraint and less of 
discipline. Like any other hundred and one men, 
promiscuously enlisted, some of these in time became 
fine soldiers, others fairly so, while still others 
dropped out of the ranks and abandoned the cause. 
One hundred and eighty-nine names were finally 
carried on the rolls, but from these a large company 
could have been taken which added nothing to the 
renown acquired by our regiment before the close 
of the war. Considering the fierce political contest 



2 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

through which the country had just passed and the 
thorough discussion of the questions at issue, the 
rapid enlistment of volunteers was surprising. It 
was evident that the election of a President by a 
party entirely sectional, and the open threats of a 
radical press in regard to slavery, had aroused an 
exuberance of Southern sentiment which the con- 
servative element could not withstand. There was a 
strong feeling for preserving the Union in our com- 
munity, but on that bright morning in May, 1861, 
the sentiment for war seemed to be in the ascendant. 
There were the usual extravagant talk and nonsense, 
but all were patriotic and meant well. I was of the 
conservatives who had voted steadily against seces- 
sion and was prepared to maintain my mental equili- 
brium in almost any kind of political revulsion. 
Some of the more enthusiastic women threatened to 
put petticoats on the young fellows who did not enter 
the ranks promptly. These same women v/orked 
till their fingers were sore in getting the soldiers 
ready for service. We knew nothing about war and 
had a problem in deciding just what to carry along. 
No page in the old school histories had told us how 
little a soldier must get along on, and there was no 
experienced campaigner present to tell us. Some of 
us thought that a white shirt or two would be essen- 
tial. Razors, combs, brushes and hand glasses were 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 3 

in our outfits. It bothered us to reduce these things 
to a small package that we could handle easily. We 
had many details to settle. Saddle-bags? They had 
all been appropriated by the "early birds" — the fel- 
lows who were afraid the war would be over before 
they could get to it. We resorted to the use of the 
old-fashioned wallet, an article fashioned after the 
similitude of a pillow-slip, closed at both ends and 
with a slit in the middle. Made of stout osnaburgs, 
it proved to be a sufficient receptacle. But the 
"wallet" was not tidy enough for the "trim sol- 
dier," and in case of rain the contents were 
drenched. All this was remedied afterward by expe- 
rience in packing, necessity for economy, and by 
spoils captured on the field. We, too, got to using 
McClellan saddles with large pockets, rubber cloths 
and regulation blankets. Indeed, later on, if Grant 
had met one of us, he would have pronounced us 
"correct" from halter to spur, if only he could have 
been blinded to the suit of gray or butternut. There 
came a time when we had new Yankee guns and 
were constantly on the lookout for cartridges of 
the right caliber. You see, we "paid some attention 
to details, " if we did sometimes leave in a hurry. 

But we are off for Jackson to be mustered in. At 
Medon the good people who had that day given a 
farewell dinner to their home company had a bounti- 



4 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

ful spread for us. As Company E of the Seventh 
Cavalry we advanced in line of battle over this very 
spot at the old brick church on the "Armstrong 
raid," and here we had the first real taste of heavy 
firing. Our gallant young Captain Tate here used 
his favorite word, "Steady," which we had heard so 
often on drill, and reproached us for trying to dodge 
the balls. 

Our mustering officer was A. W. Campbell, who 
rose to the rank of Brigadier-General, and it was 
another coincidence that Company E was in his 
brigade at the surrender. Like Chalmers, he car- 
ried his good breeding into camp, and even in the 
woods there was an air of refinement in all his ways. 
"We had six weeks of hot weather and strenuous 
drill on the Jackson Fair Grounds. Plentiful rations 
and boxes from home, but in these forty-eight years 
I haven't forgotten the Jackson flies. I remember 
that a Bolivar girl said they were "the laziest flies 
she had ever seen." This depended upon the point 
of view. They came on with a rush, but were a 
little slow in getting out of the way. 

Orders came to march to Randolph by way of 
Bolivar. We were all happy in the prospect of 
spending a few days at home. We were now soldiers 
sure enough — in the estimation of our friends. 
Hadn't we been in camp six long, hot weeks? Pleas- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE 5 

ures incident to such occasions are sufficiently sweet 
to last a long time. Alas ! they never do. 

"Boots and saddles" for Randolph. At the "old 
factory" on Clear Creek the people of the "Whiteville 
country prepared a dinner for us that was simply 
above criticism, except to say that it was perfect 
in every particular. We had our first bivouac at 
Stanton. Moving under a July sun and along miles 
and miles of dusty road, we reached the vicinity of 
Randolph tired and hungry. We reverted to the 
"flesh pots" and dreamed of Medon and White- 
ville, and other good things that we had seen. The 
hills and vallej's were covered with the tents of the 
Provisional Army of Tennessee, under General John 
L. T. Sneed. We certainly got the impression h©re 
that the war was a fixed fact. Preparations went 
forward day and night. It was time for serious 
reflection. Some of us, though young men, had been 
thinking over the grave questions for some time, 
particularly during the exciting political canvass of 
the previous year. ]\Iany who admitted the abstract 
right of secession but had voted against it as wrong 
under the circumstances, if not impracticable, were 
yet hoping that a wicked war would somehow be 
averted. All the elements of opposition to the Repub- 
licans had a popular majority in the election of 
1860 of over one million votes, and a majority of 



6 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

eight in the Senate and twenty-one in the House. 
They could have contested Republican measures or 
even blocked legislation for two more years. Lin- 
coln had always protested against the policy of 
interfering with slavery in the States. Was there 
not here food for reflection on the part of the 
thoughtful soldier, who was about to stake every- 
thing, even life itself, upon the result of a war in 
which he knew the chances of success were against 
him? He could reason that wise and patriotic 
statesmanship could change the whole policy of 
government in less than two years. 

But here comes the battle of Bull Run, in which 
the Federal Army was scattered to the four winds. 
Oh, yes, we just kneiv now that we could whip three 
or four to one ! How easy it was to conclude that 
the very best thing to do was to present a united 
front and, if not our independence, we could at least 
get liberal concessions in regard to slavery in the 
territories. But this is merely a reminiscence, and I 
am not an Heroditus. 

We called the place, assigned us near Randolph, 
Camp Yellow Jacket. There was good reason for 
this, for thousands of yellow jackets were in the 
ground on which we proposed to make our beds 
and stake our horses. In a day or two we cleared 
the camp of these pests so that it was habitable. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 7 

Two cavalry companies ftom Memphis were in camp 
near iis— Logwood 's and White's. In riding near 
these one day I met a soldier speeding a magnificent 
black horse along a country road as if for exercise, 
and the pleasure of being astride of so fine an animal. 
On closer inspection, I saw it was Bedford Forrest, 
only a private like myself, whom I had known ten 
years before down in Mississippi. I had occasion 
afterward to see a good deal of him. 

We were to be a part of Pillow's Army of Occupa- 
tion, and to that end, we went aboard the steamer 
Ohio with orders to debark at New Madrid, Mo. 
Soon there came a great victory to McCulloch and 
Price at Oak Hill, and some folks said that we would 
march straight to St. Louis. We reported to General 
M. Jeff Thompson of the Missouri State troops, forty 
miles in the interior. Though Missouri was a South- 
ern State, we soon began to feel that we were border- 
ing on the enemy's country. We had hurriedly gone 
forward without our wagon train and were some- 
what dependent upon the Missourians for rations. 
When our Captain spoke to the General in regard to 
our needs, he blurted out these words: "By God, 
Captain Neely, my men can soon furnish your men 
with as much beef as they want and a pile of bread 
as high as a tree." We got the rations. Thompson's 
men were armed mostly with shotguns and old- 



8 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

fashioned squirrel rifles. Trained to the use of fire- 
arms and largely destitute of fear, they were dan- 
gerous antagonists. The General, as I remember 
him, was a wiry little fellow, active as the traditional 
eat and a fine horseman. He was mounted on a 
milk-white stallion with black spots. He dashed 
around among his men like a boy on his first pony, 
and was invariably followed by his big Indian or- 
derly, dressed largely in the garb of his tribe. These 
men told us much about their little combats with the 
"home guards," and made us feel that we were get- 
ting still nearer to real war. False alarms were fre- 
quent and afforded us plenty of material to excite 
our risibles when the imaginary danger had passed. 
Still further out we encamped on the farm of Gen- 
eral Watkins, who was a half brother of Henry 
Clay. Rations were not at hand in abundance for 
a day or two, but the owner of the farm donated 
to us a twenty-acre field in the roasting ear. Some 
of the boys said that Alf. Coleman ate thirty ears a 
day while it lasted — the same he took out for his 
horse. Green corn, roasted in the shuck or baked 
before a hot fire, is very palatable. I had learned 
this "down on the old plantation" in the Pee Dee 
eouutr}'. We really enjoyed camp life here, as it was 
not so full of dull routine. A lively little scout or 
an amusing picket incident made our daily duties a 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 9 

little more spicy than usual, while scarcely a man 
escaped being the butt of a ridiculous joke or a 
little "white lie." A funny little story got into camp 
which concerned a young man of the company, who 
had been enjoying a short furlough at home. The 
ladies tiiere, ever mindful of the welfare of the 
soldiers, had made up a lot of small red flannel 
aprons, which were said to be good for warding off 
disease, if worn next to the person. The young fel- 
low had been presented with one and instructed as 
to its benefit, but not as to the manner of wearing 
it. He wore it on the outside and strutted about 
the town k» the great amusement of many good people. 
It was on this expedition that the now famous 
story was started on R. U. Brown. It was told by 
the reserve picket that Private Brown, while on post 
at midnight in the great swamp near Sikeston, called 
Nigger Head, imagined tiiat a big old owl in the 
distance was saying "Who, who, who are you?" 
Taking it for a human voice, Brown tremblingly re- 
plied "R. U. Brown, sir, a friend of yours." Dick 
never heard the last of this story while the war 
lasted, and at the Reunion in Memphis many a one 
of the "old boys" greeted him with the same old 
words that rang in his ears just forty years before. 
He and Coleman, afterwards sutler of the regiment, 
I am happy to know, are still alive in Texas. Like 



10 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

others, who sickened and died or met death on the 
firing line, they were gloriously good fellows to have 
in camp. 

It was during our stay in ^Missouri that we made 
an expedition to Charleston, situated in that vast 
flat prairie just west of the mouth of the Ohio, 
which we always reverted to with the keenest pleas- 
ure. The Federal Cavalry from Bird's Point had 
been making almost daily visits to the town, which 
was strongly Southern in sentiment. This was 
thought to be a fine opportunity to show them "a 
taste of our quality, ' ' or perhaps to capture the visit- 
ing detachment. But all was quiet in the village, as 
the enemy had made their visit and departed. Night 
was at hand and we were dirty, tired and hungry. 
It seemed to me that the whole population went to 
cooking for and feeding the soldiers. This was an- 
other one of those "big eating times" that we never 
did forget. When we were ready to depart, even the 
pretty maidens would say to us, "Which ^\ill you 
have in your canteen, whisky, water or milk?" It 
was thought best not to take any risk as to snake 
bites in the great swamp, which we had to recross, 
and I think the command took w^hisky to a man. 
The inhabitants must have enjoyed a freedom from 
intoxicants for a season, for their town "had gone 
dry" by an immense majority. We learned after- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. H 

wards that there was a "whisky famine." We never 
saw Charleston again, as we very soon received 
orders to advance into Kentucky and take post at 
Columbus. We were among the first troops to reach 
that point. The Kentuckians seemed to be pleased 
with onr coming and recruiting went forward en- 
couragingly. We pitched our tents out on the Clin- 
ton road and near the camp of the Haywood Rangers, 
commanded by Captain Haywood of Brownsville. 
This company, whose members seemed to have been 
reared in the saddle, had been with us from the be- 
ginning of our service, and, I may say here, that 
it stood by us till the end. The history of Company 
E is largely the history of Company D. The men 
of the two comipanies were brothers in arms, who 
could confidently rel}^ upon the valor of each other, 
and those now living are loving friends to this 
day. Through the long hard winter, or till the 
evacuation of Columbus, the two companies guarded 
the Clinton and Milburn roads. For a w^hile we 
reported directly to Albert Sydney Johnston. His 
noble personality and soldierly bearing were impres- 
sive and stamped him as a man born to command. 



CHAPTER II. 



SERVICE IN FR^E STATES. 



The reader will remember that iu closing the 
previous chapter I stated that Company E had been 
ordered to leave Missouri and take post at Columbus, 
Kentucky. The company was not then designated 
by letter, as it belonged to no regiment, but was 
known as the Hardeman Avengers. In company 
with our sturdy friends, the Haywood Rangers, after- 
wards Company D of the Seventli Tennessee Cavalry, 
we reached Columbus the first day of September, 
1861, being about the first troops to occupy an ad- 
vanced post among a people, who were then mak- 
ing a rather unsuccessful effort to play the role of 
neutrals. We were now in a "hog and hominy" 
countrv, and the soldiering was of the holidav kind. 
We made long marches through the Purchase and 
saw many evidences of Southern sympathy. Indeed, 
the whole population seemed to be friendly to us, 
as even those with Northern sympathies prudently 
kept quiet. Then, as now, I accorded people the 
right to think as they pleased, and to act upon their 
conviciions. Throughout the contest, I zealously 
held to the principle that we should not make war 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 13 

upon old men, women and children. In the light 
of this principle, I was able to enjoy to the fullest 
extent a ridiculous attempt at concealment of real 
sentiment. For instance, somewhere in the Mayfield 
country, the column was one day passing a farm 
house upon the veranda of which was sitting a cor- 
pulent old gentleman, whose adipose matter hung 
sufficiently low to largely cover his femurs, as he 
sat with his pedal extremities slightly elevated on 
the rude baluster. While he wildly gesticulated he 
lustily shouted, ^^ Hurrah for Jeff Davis and the 
Southern Confederacy!" At another part of the 
house a little girl was making strenuous efforts to 
haul down the stars and stripes, which doubtless was 
emblematic of the real sentiments of the household. 
The old fellow "got the horse laugh." In our pere- 
grinations through the several counties of the Pur- 
chase it seemed to me that we were riding much to 
little juirpose, as the Federals ventured little beyond 
their lines at Paducah. I learned afterward that 
these exercises made us take on the ways of a soldier, 
and taught us valuable lessons in the bivouac. These 
stood us in good stead when, afterwards, we were 
forced to use to the best advantage very scanty re- 
sources. 

In this month of September, 1861, it was learned 
that a force of Federals had occupied an advanced 



14 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

camp on Mayfield creek near Blandville. The five 
companies of Tennessee Cavalry having been organ- 
ized into what was, for some months, known as 
Logwood's Battalion, were ordered to attack this 
force. Here we Avere to hear bullets whistle for 
the first time. The command seemed to be eager 
to enjoy the sensation of battle. As a private, I was 
supposed to be in profound ignorance of the "plan 
of campaign," but I could see enough to know that 
the maneuvering was for the purpose of surround- 
ing the camp and forcing a surrender. Our com- 
pany was drawn up in the woods within gunshot 
of the enemy, but we had no clear view of their ac- 
tions. There was random firing on both sides, but 
there was no fixed purpose to press the fighting. 
Green as we were, we would have gone into that 
camp, had we been so ordered. There were men 
in that line, who afterwards, as officers and privates, 
became famous fighters and, in many cases, went to 
death on the firing line. Almost any one of For- 
rest's real veterans would, at a later day, have con- 
sidered it a light undertaking, with the backing of 
five hundred such men, to have "gobbled up the 
whole thing" — perhaps without the firing of a gun. 
And yet nobody seemed to be blamed for the failure 
of this expedition, for we were all ignorant of real 
war. We had had another lesson in that which 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 15 

would eventually make us veterans. We had heard 
the buzz of bullets. 

The engagement turned out to be a trifling affair, 
though there was some excitement in the ranks, es- 
pecially about the time Mike McGrath of the Hay- 
wood Rangers had his horse shot under him and 
had to leave the scene mounted behind another sol- 
dier. It was not so funny then, but the little things 
done in the excitement gave occasion for joking 
when we got back to our quarters. There was a 
well known citizen who seemed to be acting as 
our guide. They called him Captain Blake. Sixteen 
years after that, while making an extensive trip in 
Texas for a well known newspaper, I found this 
Captain Blake holding a prominent office in the 
town of Granbury. Our short experience as soldiers 
together was then a pleasant reminiscence, but he, 
too, had become a veteran by coming south with the 
Kentucky troops and never returning to his home 
till after the surrender. 

About this time we received into the company 
four Kentuckians, three of whom cut some figure 
as private soldiers and helped to make Company E 
noted for its steadiness in battle and promptness to 
act in emergencies. These were John Duncan, Cad 
Linthicum, Ranse Billington and an old fellow whom 
we all knew as "Old Fulton." The first three were 



16 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

typical young men of the Purchase, reared in the 
hiJls [bordering the Ohio river bottoms. They were 
true sportsmen in all that the term implies, but were 
never so busy in a game of poker, or so much in- 
terested in discussing the good points of "Forrest's 
sorrel" or "Treadwell's gray" that they could not, 
on a moment 'b notice, have mounted their own good 
steeds and been off at a rattling pace to an im- 
portant picket post, or upon an adventurous scout. 
The sandy hair, the clear blue eye, the firm set jaw 
of Duncan — the rollicking manner, the girl-like 
cheeks, the merry shout in battle of Linthicum — the 
even temper, the great good humor, even when facing 
peril, of Billington, and the fine horsemanship of 
each made them men of mark among their comrades, 
while their apparent lack of fear and love of adven- 
ture won the absolute confidence of their superiors. 
Linthicum was wounded at Collierville, Tenn., in 
October, 1863, about the time that the Thirteenth 
Regulars with General Sherman and staff were has- 
tily abandoning their train from Memphis to take 
refuge within the Federal works. Duncan was shot 
through both arms in the fight at Prairie Mound, 
Miss., where Jeffrey Forrest was killed. A few 
months before the surrender, these three men were 
transferred to Henderson's Scouts, in which they 
found service exactly suited to their inclinations. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 17 

Happily, they lived to return to their beloved Ken- 
tucky, where, as good citizens, they spent many years 
in peaceful pursuits. They have passed to the great 
beyond. 

Well, as to "Old Fulton." I should say he had 
been reared in an atmosphere of gall, wormwood 
and vinegar. With a desperate temper and no sweet- 
ness of soul, upon the slightest provocation he would 
fly into a towering rage. If asked as to his age, 
a tart reply, interlarded with oaths, was the result. 
His stringy hair and long flowing beard were evi- 
dences of age. His cadaverous appearance, high 
cheek bones, piercing gray eyes, alert head set in 
a long skinny frame, and his fiery passions would 
have presented an interesting study to the excur- 
sionist into the fields of anthropology. This old Ken- 
tuckian had joined the Tennesseeans for the purpose, 
as he said, of soon killing a few Yankees. He never 
gratified his supreme desire, for within a few months, 
having, perhaps, tired of camp life, he got his dis- 
charge and set his face towards Kentucky. After 
his departure, we could revert with amusement to 
"Old Fulton's" effort to start a camp fire at Island 
No. 10, with wet wood. When the smoke had blinded 
the old man, and his patience and wind were ex- 
hausted, he leaped upon the pile of fagots and, utter- 
ing violent oaths, kicked them in every direction. 
This exhibition of temper was rather amusing. 



18 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

About the first of October, 1861, Haywood's and 
Neely's companies were ordered to Camp Beaure- 
gard in Graves county to picket and scout for Bow- 
en's brigade. This was a charming place for holiday 
soldiering, situated near the village of Feliciana. As 
the cavalry was encamped outside the infantry lines 
and there was little fear of attack, the discipline 
was sufficiently lax to permit us to draw upon the 
surrounding country for luxuries. These consisted 
of such things as old hams, chickens and "peach and 
honey." The boys did not neglect their opportu- 
nities. But life at Camp Beauregard was soon to 
be a thing of the past. The Federals were known to 
be making a move from Cairo. We reached Colum- 
bus just in time to witness the battle of Belmont 
across the river. This was the 7tk day of November. 
Grant's army v/as driven back to their transports. 
Here we saw Federal prisoners for the first time, 
and as many of them were wounded, we seemed to 
be a little nearer real war. Going into winter quar- 
ters we entered upon the monotonous duty of picket- 
ing the Milburn road. Dreary nights and weary 
days. Dull camp routine and nothing to excite inter- 
est. But there was to be a change. The news that 
Fort Donelson had fallen came in the last days 
of February. The excitement meant that we were 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 19 

leaving Kentucky. With our friends, the Rangers, 
we were ordered to Island No. 10. Here our hard- 
ships increased, as we were poorly supplied with 
tents and cold rains were falling. The gunboats 
were replying to our hea\y guns, but to little purpose, 
as the range was poor. They would send an occa- 
sional shot clear into the timber, and there was no 
telling when one might land right in our camp. Our 
nervousness on this account soon wore off, as we 
were exposed thus for seventeen days. In the mean- 
time, the river rapidly rose and there was a rushing 
current through Reelfoot Lake in our rear. This 
put us on an island. I know that our captain wished 
to be ordered to the main land. The order came, 
but there was great fear that it would be counter- 
manded, as Mackall was just superseding McCown, 
who had given the order. There was hot haste to 
get beyond the reach of orders. After floundering 
around for a day in trying to reach a steamer, which 
it was said would be available in the back water, 
we concluded that our only resource was to reach 
a dry spot on the lake shore and collect a few old 
flatboats and to reach the east side. In making our 
way to the lake we found much of the back water 
up to the saddle skirts. We readily secured one old 
rickety boat, which would carry five men with their 
horses and accoutrements. As the lake here was 



20 NOTES OF A PER^ITE. 

five miles wide, and the water still rising, our cross- 
ing would surely be slow and perilous. At this 
juncture, Tom Joyner. George Bradford and I rode 
five miles along shore, secured a boat, and having 
led our horses aboard, pulled for the camp. Every- 
thing went well Avith the ten men and ten horses till 
we were "half seas over." Then an adverse wind 
struck our boat, while the other boat, already much 
in advance seemed to glide over the water. It was 
exasperating, but we ''hove to" by the side of a 
friendly raft of logs and awaited more propitious 
breezes or a lucky calm. We were fortunate in reach- 
ing land before nightfall and in getting a good sup- 
per at a farm house. But next morning the boats 
must be carried over that stretch of water in order 
to rescue our fellow soldiers from an impending peril. 
When we reached the camp only a detail had been 
left there to inform us that the rest of the command 
had gone aboard of a steamer in the back water, 
which was on its way to Randolph. One time happy 
they I Thrice and four times happy we ! We had 
escaped the perils of the deep waters and the terrors 
of a Northern prison. Some of us had had a twenty- 
mile ride on Reelfoot. but strenuous effort had been 
rewarded. 

We had a long ride to Bolivar, and reached home 
just in time to hear the guns at Shiloh. Four com- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 21 

panics of infantry, one of artillery and one of cav- 
alry, recruited in Hardeman county, were in that bat- 
tle. Harrowing rumors of our losses came thick 
and fast, and little else was discussed. The death of 
Johnston and the retreat of the army seemed to us 
like a crushing defeat. Stragglers and wounded men 
from the army began to pass through the country 
and spread the news of the disaster. Then came the 
news that Island No. 10 had surrendered. It was a 
time for solemn thought — for quiet deliberation. The 
holding of the great river became now^ a doubtful 
proposition. This involved the abandonment of West 
Tennessee. A few of our men even now went to their 
homes to stay. The faithful set about reorganiz- 
ing the company, which was to await orders. We 
were really making a fresh start for the war under 
discouraging circumstances. Our sacred honor and 
plighted faith to our state were involved. It was no 
time for faint hearts. Death before dishonor seemed 
to be the prevailing sentiment and when we got on 
the move, the old time spirit returned. 

We had now seen scarcely a year of service, but 
had traversed parts of three states and crossed and 
recrossed the Mississippi river. At Trenton, we were 
to take our place as Company E in what was for 
many months known as the First Tennessee Cavalry 
under Colonel W. H. Jackson. In numbering by 



22 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

seniority, we took the seventh place, though some of 
the companies composing the regiment were among 
the first to volunteer. There was the usual jealousy 
on the part of some because an outsider had been 
placed over us as Colonel, but Jackson was a trained 
soldier, and constantly grew in favor with officers 
and men. If Jackson did not apparently have the 
dash of some other officers, his impression on soldiers 
was of solidity, good sense and firmness. Judging 
from incidents of the service, he must have had the 
implicit confidence of Van Dorn and Forrest. More 
could not be said of any soldier. 

But we must give up Tennessee — a sad thought. 
After a clash with some Federal Cavalry in Weakley 
county in which there was more of stampede than 
of fighting on their part, we retired toward the state 
line. We moved out leisurely, as no force was crowd- 
ing us. We heard the noise of battle at Memphis on 
the 6th of June, 1862, and camped that night at Ger- 
mantown. We soon heard of the defeat of the Con- 
federate fleet in front of the city and of the Federal 
occupation. Next day found us in camp on Coldwater 
river, a few miles from Holly Springs. Then began 
a series of marches and countermarches in North 
Mississippi and trips to the borders of Tennessee. 
In one of these, a detachment of our command came 
near capturing General Grant at the house of Josiah 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 23 

Deloach. This gave rise to the story, after the war, 
that for his timely warning on the occasion Grant 
made Deloach postmaster of Memj^his. 

If I were to attempt to record more than a tithb 
of the events incident to our service in Mississippi 
during our first summer there, or do more than to 
touch the high places, as I skim along, these Reminis- 
cences would be too tedious for perusal. 

William J. Tate, who had been elected lieutenant 
at the late regimental reorganization, was now pro- 
moted to the captaincy of Company E. Suffice it to 
say here that he had no superior as an officer in the 
regiment, and I shall have something more to say of 
him, when I come to speak of his death. 

But the Armstrong raid. This M-as an expedition 
into West Tennessee under the command of General 
Frank Armstrong. Advancing by way of Grand 
Junction, we encountered a Federal force near Mid- 
dleburg the 29th of August. There was some fight- 
ing between the Second Missouri Cavalry under Col- 
onel McCulloch and the Second Illinois under Colonel 
Hogg, who was killed. In a combat at close quarters 
between McCulloch and Hogg, the latter was killed 
by Tom Turner, a young Missourian, to save the life 
of McCulloch. Captain Champion of the Second Mis- 
souri was killed here. As his body was borne from 
the field by two of his troopers, I saw, for the first 



24 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

time, a dead Confederate, who had been slain in 
battle. As the purpose of the raid seemed to be the 
cutting off of the army at Bolivar by tearing up the 
railroad, which led to its base of supplies, we crossed 
Hatchie river and struck the railroad at Medon. The 
Federal garrison here was small, but without artil- 
lery we found it impossible to dislodge them, so well 
were they protected in and about the depot with 
cotton bales and other material. Nothing was ac- 
complished by the attack and several Confederates 
were either killed or wounded. It did so happen 
that Company E, in the charge on foot at the old 
brick church, passed over the same ground where it 
had been so royally entertained by the people of 
that vicinity the day it was mustered into service. 
Here Captain Bassett of Company C, Memphis, and 
Major Duckworth, afterwards Colonel of the regi- 
ment, were severely wounded, Bassett being perma- 
nently disabled. The command drew off to the east 
and went into camp at the Casey Savage farm. The 
Federals having received re-enforcements presented 
a bold front next morning when we passed to the 
west of the railroad. Here was a fine chance for a 
fight of Avhicli we did not avail ourselves, though the 
enemy were in an open field. With our force, we 
could have driven them to shelter or effected their 
capture. This was the first day of September, 1862, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 25 

and we were to fight the battle of Briton's Lane that 
day. We were to encounter a force, consisting of 
two infantry regiments, a section of artillery and a 
small detachment of cavalry. Our army could have 
enveloped them, and should have done so. The regi- 
ments were fought in detail, some of them scarcely 
getting into the engagement at all. The Seventh 
Tennessee was ordered to charge on foot through a 
corn field, from which the fodder had been stripped, 
against a heavy line of infantry lying behind a stout 
worm fence and in the woods. A galling fire was 
poured into Company E, but some of its men reached 
the fence. Dr. Joe Allen of Whiteville mounted the 
fence and fell dead on the enemy's side of it. John 
Bradford of Toone, and Willie Wendel, a school boy 
of Bolivar, were killed near the fence. D. E. Dur- 
rett of Bolivar received a wound which put him on 
crutches to the day of his death, which occurred a 
few years ago, and Tom Joyner and John Fortune 
were severely wounded. How so many men got out 
of that field alive is one of those unaccountable 
things that sometimes occur in war. The whole com- 
mand was discouraged by the operations of this 
raid, and thought that, if we had gained anything 
at all. we had paid dearly for it. The weather was 
hot and dry. When we returned to IMississippi the 
men were thoroughly dispirited and their horses in 



26 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

bad condition. True soldiers quickly recover from 
a disaster, when well treated in camp, and even 
horses seem to follow the example of the men. How 
sweet was the rest just then ! But this respite was 
not for long. Even then Van Dorn and Price were 
arranging the details to attack Eosecrans at Corinth. 



CHAPTER III. 



DAVIS' BRIDGE AND CORINTH. 



When we had somewhat recovered from the 
fatigue and demoralization incident to the Armstronrr 
raid, four companies of the Seventh Tennessee and 
four of the First Mississippi were ordered to march 
under Lieutenant Colonel F. A. Montgomery of the 
latter regiment in the direction of Hernando, Miss. 
Colonel Grierson with his Sixth Illinois Cavalry was 
making a scout from Memphis, and the eight com- 
panies were to watch his movements. I remember 
we passed down through Byhalia and Cockrum and 
across Coldwater river on the road towards Her- 
nando. Then turning north and marching leisurely 
along we recrossed the Coldwater at Hollo way's 
bridge, quite a rude affair, about ten miles south- 
west of Byhalia. The men seemed to think that we 
were only making one of our usual marches for 
practice. But when Vv^e had reached the foothills on 
the east side, there was a commotion in the ranks. 
and we were ordered to countermarch, while the 
word passed down the line that Grierson was in our 
rear. He had crossed the bridge and was follovv-ing 
us. In a few minutes the whole comm.and was in the 



28 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

greatest excitement. As soon as the immediate pres- 
ence of the enemy was discovered, a company of the 
Seventh Regiment was thrown front into line, but, 
unfortunately, very near the enemy, who had ad- 
vanced on foot and were well concealed in the heavy 
timber. There was brisk firing from the Federal 
line, which portended certain death to the men and 
horses of our front company. There was a bolt to 
the rear, and what is known to the participants as 
the Coldwater stampede was on. Nothing could sur- 
pass it in excitement. The other companies had 
been drawn up by company front with Company E 
next in position to the one so near the enemy. When 
the latter had reached our front, it had acquired 
about sufficient momentum to dash through on their 
excited horses, which seemed to have gotten beyond 
the control of their riders. The Federals saw their 
opportunity and promptly advanced, delivering a 
galling fire as they did so. The demoralization was 
imparted from man to man and the scare from horse 
to horse till it became a rout. Some of the men of 
Company E spoke encouraging words to one another, 
when they saw what was coming, and denounced the 
retreat as cowardly. In some, this was no doubt a 
manifestation of inborn bravery, in others, of self- 
esteem or personal pride. From whatever motive, it 
-was a creditable act, for it Avas one of those occa- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 29 

sions when a man can take his own measure to see 
whether or not he is a brave soldier, or is prompted 
by other impulses. But however much inclined some 
were to stand firm, it was only a moment before all 
were borne to the rear. Concert of action was impos- 
sible, and those who at first resolved to resist, were 
very soon getting away with those who seemed to 
be making the best time. The command did not 
exactly take to the woods, but there was no delay 
in crossing a stout fence which put us into a corn 
field where the fall crop of crabgrass seemed to be 
the rankest I had ever seen. We happened to be 
going in the direction of the rows or we would have 
played havoc with the crop. As it was, we trampled 
great paths through the crabgrass and spoiled a fine 
lot of hay. Everybody seemed willing to halt when 
we got on the other side and had an open field be- 
tween us and the enemy. The command was reor- 
ganized with dispatch, after which there were 
various expressions as to the cause of the disaster. 
Smarting with shame and mortification, a great ma- 
jority of the detachment would then and there have 
put up the fight of their lives, had they been coolly 
led into action. Clearly, we had been outgeneraled 
by one of the most alert of Federal officers, the first 
on his side to gain a reputation as a bold raider. 
How vividly I recall my own feelings and those 



30 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

expressed by others, when we retired from the scene 
of the affair just related ! Everybody had some in- 
cident of the disaster to relate, and the usual funny 
things were said about how the boys got over that 
first fence and through that cornfield, though it did 
look like smiling at a funeral. 

When the excitement was at its height and Grier- 
son's men were yelling like demons turned loose, 
Sherrill Tisdale's horse was running madly to the 
rear with his rider trying to keep himself in the 
saddle by holding desperately to the mane. Tisdale 
fell to the ground and was captured, but his fine 
young horse, afterward ridden by the late Emmet 
Hughes, escaped and would have carried his ov/ner 
to safety. 

John Allen, a brother of Dr. Joe Allen, killed only 
a few days before at Briton's Lane, was shot through 
the foot before our line was broken. He was riding 
a splendid mule which carried him out of danger by 
leaping two big logs, lying one upon the other. Joe 
and John Allen with their brother Thompson, who 
served in another regiment, were, like their father. 
Long John Allen, of Whiteville, noted for their 
sprightly intellectuality, physical and moral courage 
and height. John used to turn his six feet four 
inches to an amusing account when he encountered 
a citizen with whom he wished to swap horses. Put- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 31 

ting his hand to his right ear he would ask his new 
acquaintance to talk very loud, intimating that he 
was very deaf. "Old Innocent," usually a man of 
short stature as compared with John's, who had, 
on the quiet, plenty of confidence in his own ability 
as a judge of horseflesh, would tiptoe to John and 
raise his voice to a high key. John, like a born actor, 
would turn his right eye down on his unsuspecting 
subject while he winked with his left to his audience. 
John Allen's penchant for horse trading caused him 
sometimes to be mounted on a mule. 

Company E now knew that there was work to be 
done in the immediate future. The Federals had gar- 
risoned many places on the Memphis and Charleston 
Railroad, and were making incursions into Missis- 
sippi. Steps were taken to unite the armies of Price 
and Van Dorn for the purpose of making an attack 
on Corinth where General Rosecrans was posted. 
As preliminary to this attack. Colonel W. H. Jackson 
was ordered to take his own and the First Mississippi 
Cavalry under Pinson and make a reconnoisance in 
the direction of Corinth. At Davis' bridge on Big 
Hatchie river Jackson somewhat unexpectedly came 
upon Ingersoll's Eleventh Illinois Cavalry and some 
regulars just going into camp. The vidette, who had 
just taken post, was taken in and the rest was easy. 
Pinson in front charged across the bridge and into 



32 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

the camp of the enemy, who were largely engaged 
in gathering corn from a field to the right of the 
road, while the Seventh Tennessee brought up the 
rear and waked the echoes with the rebel yell. The 
firing was promiscuous, but there were few casual- 
ties. Pinson was the only Confederate wounded. He 
manifested the spirit and courage of the hero, as we 
bore him to the Davis residence on a cot secured for 
the purpose. He had very good reason to think that 
the ball had penetrated the intestines, but he, never- 
theless, spoke cheerfully to anxious enquirers as 
"boys," and said that it was only "a small matter'' 
and that he "was all right." Happily he was. 

The spoils were great, considering the few minutes 
the battle lasted, consisting of one hundred and 
eighty fine Illinois horses with their accoutrements 
and arms. "We captured only fifty oi" sixty prison- 
ers, as it was just at nightfall, and most of the 
enemy took refuge in the timber. I always thought 
that those fine horses and accoutrements should have 
been distributed among the boys where most needed 
and their inferior articles taken up. This might 
have been done under a board of survey in such a 
way as not only to increase the efficiency of the 
command, but also to stimulate it for future enter- 
prises. But we didn't get a halter. All went to sup- 
ply the demands of other commands. There was one 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 33 

particularly fine horse in the captured lot which had 
been thoroughly trained and was evidently some- 
thing of a pet, as we say, of his former owner. Jim 
Weatherly of Somerville, was not long in discovering 
his fine points and "smart tricks," and soon had 
him "going his way." The beautiful brown with 
two white feet had to be turned in, and Weatherly 
was disconsolate. Thereafter, when any legitimate 
capture fell in the way of the boys, mum was the 
word. It was now September, 1862, and Price and 
Van Dorn were ready to move on Corinth. This 
movement was made from Ripley, Miss., in two divi- 
sions commanded by Price and Lovell, with Van Dorn 
as chief. The army was well equipped, well fed and 
in fine spirits. It had not rained for many weeks, 
and the dusty roads and scarcity of water made the 
marches, which were necessary to effect the concen- 
tration of the two armies, severe ones for all branches 
of the service. But the prospect of making a 
successful assault on the works at Corinth and cap- 
turing Rosecrans and his army buoyed up the spirits 
of the soldiers. Ten miles out on the Chiwalla hills 
the cavalry encountered a small Federal force which 
was easily swept back. Company A of the Seventh 
Tennessee, was active in this affair as Jackson's es- 
cort and lost the first man killed on the expedition. 
I was with a detachment of Company E that had 



34 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

been ordered forward and deployed as skirmishers. 
I came upon the corpse of the soldier, which had, 
for the moment, been left where he had fallen. It 
was the body of John Young of Memphis. This was 
the first day of October, 1862. The next day was 
spent in getting the proper dispositions made for the 
assault. On the 3rd, the earth seemed to tremble 
with the thunder of artillery and the roar of small 
arms. It was a struggle to the death in which both 
sides lost heavily. The position had been rendered 
strong by heavy earthworks and much of the front 
had been covered by fallen timber, which made the 
approach to the main works difficult. All that day 
it went well with the Confederates, though the killed 
and wounded were numerous. As the cavalry took 
no part in the main battle, we could see pretty well 
what was going on in the rear. There it was a bloody 
spectacle as the killed and wounded were borne back 
for treatment and burial. That was the first time for 
me to see our poor fellows wrapped in their blankets 
and buried in shallow trenches. The horror of it ! 
Even on the morning of the fourth, those of us in the 
rear thought that all was well in front, for we had 
heard that Price, who was fighting on the north of 
the railroad, had gone over the heavy works and 
into the town. And so he had. but the brave men 
under Lovell on the right under the terrible fire oL" 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 35 

the Federals had failed to make a successful assault. 
Suddenly there was a calm, which we could not un- 
derstand. But it soon flashed upon us that we were 
beaten, and our army was in full retreat. During 
the previous night McPherson's division from Jack- 
son had re-enforced Rosecraus and was ready to 
press the retreating Confederates. Hurlburt's divi- 
sion, too, was marching from Bolivar to intercept the 
retreating column. There was now likely to be some 
lively work for the cavalry. When we reached 
Davis' bridge, the scene of the affair heretofore re- 
lated, Hurlburt was there to dispute our passage. 
With McPherson in our rear we were apparently "in 
a box. ' ' Shrewd generalship on the part of the Fed- 
erals would have captured our whole army. Van 
Dorn boldly attacked Hurlburt at the bridge, while 
his trains were ordered to take the only road of 
escape — that up Hatchie river. The cavalry preceded 
the trains, and, crossing the river, attacked Hurl- 
burt in his rear. For several hours there were two 
Federal and two Confederate forces engaged and one 
of each fronting two ways. Van Dorn drew off at 
the proper time and followed his trains. The Fed- 
erals were not disposed to follow, as good general- 
ship would have dictated, for our troops, wornout 
and hungry, could have made but a feeble resistance. 
The streams had no water in them and our soldiers 



36 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

drank the wells dry. When a beef was killed the 
hungry men were cutting the flesh from the carcass 
before the hide was off. In the midst of this dis- 
tress, I had my only sight of Sterling Price. He was 
riding at the head of a small escort and apparently 
in deepest thought. He had left many of the brave 
men whom he loved dead on the field of Corinth. He 
was the idol of his men, a great Missourian and a 
good man. But the result at Corinth had made him 
sad. The disaster brought other troubles in its train. 
The morale of the army was not good, the citizens 
were discouraged and many a soldier gave up the 
fight and went to his home within the Federal lines. 
We retired to the vicinity of Holly Springs. 



CHAPTER IV. 



VAN DORN AT HOLLY SPRINGS. 



After the battle of Corinth the Confederate army 
under Van Dorn was entirely on the defensive. 
Grant and Sherman advanced from Memphis into 
Mississippi with the evident purpose of taking Vicks- 
burg: in the rear. The cavalry had frequent skir- 
mishes with the Federal advance and no little excite- 
ment. There was an encounter with Sherman's 
troops near Old Lamar in Marshall county, Miss. In 
relating this incident, I feel the need of a faculty 
that would enable me to tell three or four things at 
the same time and make my readers have a clear 
conception of a number of particulars which run 
through the mind so rapidly that it is difficult to 
arrange them in a well connected narrative. As in 
a dream, we travel over a vast extent of country 
and talk with many people in the short space of 
a few seconds, so when armed forces unexpectedly 
clash, we can see very many things at the same mo- 
ment, but can speak of only one incident at a time. 
In the last days of a very dry October the Seventh 
Tennessee Cavalry was marching by fours in a dusty 
lane with ditches intervening between the road and 
the fences. The enemy must have seen that a fine 



38 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

opportunity was at hand, and advanced rapidly on 
our flank. The clouds of dust so obscured the vision 
that it was impossible to see just where the enemy 
were. Having the advantage of an open field they 
made good use of it. The Confederates were com- 
pelled to fall back or be enveloped. The command 
to right about by fours was given. This order threw 
about one-half the regiment into a position fronting 
the other half, which had, in the confusion, never 
heard it. The red dirt rose in clouds as those who 
were trying to get to the rear struggled to pass by 
those who had not heard the command. Horses and 
riders went into the ditches in a confused mass. 

The time for obeying orders had passed. Amid 
the shouts of the enemy's flanking lines, the neighing 
of horses and the curses of desperate men, there 
seemed to be one thought uppermost, and that was 
to get out of this trouble alive, if possible. No doubt 
there were instances of individual bravery and un- 
selfish acts of gallantry, quite common occurrences 
in the Seventh Regiment, but nobody had anything 
of this incident to relate on that score around future 
campfires. Many had thrilling stories of how they 
escaped. Captain W. J. Tate of Company E, and 
Captain C. C. Clay went into the ditch together. Tate 
lost his saddle, but got hold of Clay's, which he 
placed on his own horse, mounted and rode out of 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 39 

danger. Captain Clay witli many others was eap- 
tured. This all happened in much less time than it 
takes to tell it. but it ^vas a remarkable stampcdt^, 
the second and last the regiment ever was in. The 
fighting was so constant from that time" till Christ- 
mas, 1862, that the men learned to stand firm on the 
firing line and to fall back in good order. 

It were a long story to tell of the sullen retreat 
of the army even now not fully recovered from the 
effects of the disastrous Corinth campaign. Mans- 
field Lovell's division and Price's Trans-]\Iississippi 
veterans, however, were always ready for a fight. 
The cold, rainy days of winter were upon us, and 
nothing seemed quite so sure as a great battle on. 
the line of the Tallahatchie. That line was aban- 
doned and the enemy made a fierce attack on our 
rear guard of cavalry at Oxford. We were expected 
to hold them in check till our trains were safe be- 
yond the Yokona. It was one of those times in which 
the woods were alive with bluecoats. But I shall 
intermit this narrative here and insert a sketch, which 
is entirely apropos, though printed some time ago. It 
follows : 
Editor Commercial Appeal : 

Whenever I hear the patriotic spirit of the South- 
ern women alluded to. I somehow revert to an in- 
cident that came under my observation on the 2nd 



40 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

day of December, 1862, at Oxford, Miss. Price and 
Van Dom had been forced to abandon the line of 
the Tallahatchie and were falling back to the line 
of the Yalobusha. Our cavalry was making a stub- 
born resistance against overwhelming forces of the 
Federals in order to hold them in check long enough 
to allow our trains to get beyond immediate danger. 
A cold rain was falling and there seemed to be no 
bottom to the roads. The citizens were panic- 
stricken and the army was in no good spirits. It 
had not entirely recovered from the disastrous re- 
pulse at Corinth, and the terrible weather added 
to the distress. "Blue ruin" seemed to stare us in 
the face. Colonel Wheeler of the First Tennessee 
Cavalry was temporarily in command of W. H. Jack- 
son's brigade, which was trying to hold the Abbe- 
ville road. There was no picket in our front and 
there was a call for somebody to reconnoiter. There 
was no positive order from the Colonel commanding, 
but as he rode along the front of our company he 
said: "Some of you men with carbines go out there 
and see where they are." It was one of those times 
when it was nobody's business in particular, but 
everybody's in general. Just then I asked Sam Clin- 
ton, who recently died at Bolivar, if he would go with 
me. AVe rode forward, followed by four other men 
of other companies. I remember that Sam and I 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE 41 

realized the danger and would have preferred to be 
somewhere else. We stirred up a hornets' nest, for 
very soon there was one report, and a singing minie 
passed over our lieads. Instantly, a heavy skirmish 
line of Kansas Jayhawkers, who knew how to shoot, 
rose up in the bushes on e^ch side of the road. We 
replied in kind, but retreated at a rapid pace. Only 
one of the six was struck, Private Wilson of Company 
B, of Covington, who had his thigh bone fractured 
and became a permanent cripple. The retreat even 
was so hot that I hastily concluded to quit the road 
and try the timber. In forcing my horse, "Old 
Snip," up an embankment the wet and thawing earth 
gave way, and Snip and I fell in such a position, 
with my left foot under him, that it was difficult to 
rise. I had to think fast. I spurred the poor beast 
with my right foot to force him to an effort to rise 
so that I could recover my left. The next thing was 
to recover my navy six and saddle bags, containing 
my scant "wardrobe" which had become detached 
and fallen in the mud. Replacing my pistol in the 
holster, throwing my saddle bags on my shoulder 
and holding on to my carbine, I turned my attention 
to Snip, who had by a supreme effort recovered his 
feet and Avas ready for any emergency. Following 
my lead, he mounted the embankment and we had 
the protection of the timber. Just then the gallant 



42 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

Joe Wicks of Memphis, the adjutaut of our regi- 
ment, came with orders for the squad to fall back. 
We had already taken orders from the Jayhawkers. 
But poor Joe Wicks, we never saw him more. Dash- 
ing into the thicket, he said he had other orders to 
deliver. In a few minutes his riderless horse came 
dashing back to the command. He never delivered 
his orders, but was buried by the good people of 
Oxford. 

But I started out to say something about the Con- 
federate women. If I have any excuse for this pre- 
liminary, it is, that my readers may have a faint ap- 
preciation of the troubles that come to a poor private 
of a retreating army in midwinter. As for the Con- 
federate women, it is always in order, even in the 
middle of an effective paragraph, to say your best 
about them, but, if I had some happy trick of phrasi; 
or knack of language, which I just now heartily de- 
sire, I would write in the language of loftiest eulogy 
in their praise. However, let us think that there 
never were any others just like them. 

But now as to the particular incident. Oxford was 
a town of tearful women and weeping maids. This 
added to our overflowing cup. On the verandah of 
a cottage, somewhere just south of the courthouse, 
was standing one of the maidens, who did not seem 
to be weeping, for her spirit had risen to the occa- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 43 

sion. With dark bine eyes and flowing hair, she was 
animation incarnate. She was most forcibly express- 
ing her opinion about our giving over the town to 
the merciless Yankees. Her short skirts and youth- 
ful appearance, somewhat mollified her impeachment, 
for, if we had taken her opinion as solid truth, and 
had seen ourselves as she, for the moment, saw us, 
we should have been convinced that we were the 
most cowardly aggregation of "skedaddling" cavalry 
in the Confederacy. In just twenty days, we had 
ample revenge and surcease from humiliation at Hol- 
ly Springs, where the Federal loss of army stores, 
right in the rear of Grant's army, went into the 
millions, and was the greatest loss of supplies that 
occurred on a single occasion during the war. His- 
torians have not even done this affair under Vaa 
Dorn the scantiest justice. 

But who was our little maiden, she of the patriotic 
impulses? Everybody wanted to know, for we 
hoped to have her think better of us. Cad Linthi- 
cum. our little Kentuckian, who somehow had a 
penchant for knowing all the girls in divers places, 
said it was Taylor Cook. And so it was Taylor 
Cook. Then "Taylor Cook" went down the line 
She had become famous in a twinkling. The Sev- 
enth Tennessee Cavalry Avould have willingly adopt- 
ed her as "The Daughter of the Regiment," if she 
4 



44 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

could have appreciated the honor. She was worthy 
to become the wife of Nathan Bedford Forrest's only 
son. And she did. When I pause at her grave in 
beautiful Elmwood, I think of that sad day at Ox- 
ford. J. M. HUBBARD, 
Erstwhile of Company E, Seventh Tenn. Cavalr}, 

On the 3rd day of December, 1862, the Seventh 
Regiment had placed the Yokona between itself and 
the enemy. We destroyed the bridges in order to 
hold them in check. Here we committed about our 
first depredation on a citizen. We burnt his fence 
rails. Remember it was cold and wet and we had 
no axes. The boys spoke of it as an outrage (sic), 
but felt good as they dried themselves around the 
burning rails. We consoled ourselves with the re- 
flection that, if the owner were as patriotic as he 
should have been, he never would utter a word of 
complaint. Many a time, when the temperature 
was low, we had occasion to revert with pleasure 
to the generous fires near Springdale, an old ante- 
bellum stagestand. 

"Boots and saddles," for the Federal cavalry had 
already gotten between the Seventh Regiment ana 
Water Valley. There was but one thing to do. Put 
on a bold front and run over them or through them. 
This was so quickly done by our advance that the 
rear never came in sight of the enemy. The road 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 45 

was now clear and we continued to move south. 
The next day, just north of Coffeeville, we assisted 
in forming an ambuscade to entrap the Federal cav- 
alry. This was attended with sufficient success to 
enable our whole army to take post at Grenada. 

We were getting well along into the second year 
of the war, and our prospects were getting worse 
on the "Memphis lines." North Mississippi was in 
the hands of the Federals, and nothing seemed more 
probable or possible than that we should be driven 
further toward the Gulf. Van Dorn had had rather 
poor success as the commander of an army or the 
projector of a campaign, but the Confederate author- 
ities knew he was a born cavalryman. He appeared 
to be the very man to lead a bold movement to the 
rear of Grant's army on the Tallahatchie. A corps 
composed entirely of cavalry was organized to take 
the road with Holly Springs as an objective point. 
This place had been abundantly supplied with every- 
thing needed by an army of twenty thousand meu, 
encamped south of it, and was garrisoned by about 
three thousand of all arms. Most of the storehouses 
around the public square were full of provisions, 
clothing and medical stores. A large livery stable 
had been converted into an immense arsenal for the 
storage of arms and ammunition. There was a long 
string of cars on the tracks, sufficient, perhaps, to 



46 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

make three good trains, which it was said were load- 
ed with supplies for the army. The sutlers and the- 
small dealers who follow an army, were fully sup- 
plied, as if they expected to make a permanent stay 
in the Sunny South. The cotton speculators were in 
force, and had hundreds of bales in storage. Van 
Dorn did not expect to transport any part of these 
vast supplies south. His purpose was to surprise 
the garrison at daylight, parole the prisoners and de- 
stroy the stores. So after making a march of one 
day and two nights, much of which was at a trot, 
and during which we had, after starting from Gre- 
nada, swept around by way of Benela, Houston, Pon- 
totoc and New Albany, about 100 miles, we surprised 
and captured the Federal outpost and entered the 
town at a gallop. On that clear, frosty morning of 
December 20th, 1862, the Seventh Regiment was 
marching in the rear of a column so long and moving 
so rapidly that we made the last mile or two at 
about full speed. When we did reach the town, our 
horses were hot and smoking and men greatly ex- 
cited. Colonel Murphy, the Federal commander of 
the post, had already been surprised in his bed and 
the Confederates were on every corner. Men, wo- 
men and children were sounding praises to the Con- 
federates. We could hardly realize that we were in 
possession of the largest booty secured by any army. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 47 

so far, in the war. Everybody wanted to carry away 
something, but it was hard to make a selection. Here 
were great inducements to plunder and such a con- 
dition of demoralization existed as might cause the 
officers to lose control of their men. Whisky, brandy 
and wines of the best quality and in unbroken pack- 
ages were among the spoils of war, and everybocty 
so disposed could help himself. And pretty much 
everybody was disposed. A. S. Coleman, he of the 
Missouri roasting ear story and sutler of the regi- 
ment, had left his wagon at Grenada and had donned 
his fighting clothes for the raid. He acted as a sort 
of free lance, who had the assurance to assume spe- 
cial privileges. He visited some of the richest depots 
early and selected such articles as he knew would 
please the boys. He soon hove in sight of Company 
E with a string of hats as long as a plough line 
wound about him and his horse. What looked like 
the effigy of a man, clothed in blue trousers of large 
dimensions and cut in twain at the waist and foot- 
less, sat bolt upright on the pommel of Coleman's 
saddle. When the contents of the effigy were dis- 
played, we found we had more good liquor than we 
had room for. All were in fine trim now to attack 
the commissary stores. As in the case of the fine 
liquors, the boys did materially reduce the visible 
supply of good things. People of all classes, without 



48 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

regard even to previous condition of servitude, were 
told to walk up and help themselves. Children rev- 
eled in the pleasures of the occasion, and grown 
people declared that it was the grandest day the 
town had ever seen. The work of destruction be- 
gan in the afternoon. The arsenal was destroyed, 
all cars with their contents and houses used for the 
storage of cotton were burned. Town and country 
were enveloped in smoke and the report of explosives 
was heard when we were many miles from the scene 
of destruction. Van Dorn had so completely reaped 
the fruits of victory that his praise was on every 
tongue. The men rode out of Holly Springs at night- 
fall in high glee and perfectly willing to incur other 
dangers further north. The loss to the Federals has 
been estimated as high as $3,000,000. 

I have been at some pains to find out about how 
many men Van Dorn had at Holly Springs, but the 
affair has been so lightly regarded by writers and 
the records are so lacking in specific statements, 
that I am only able to state that I had the impres- 
sion at the time his force numbered about four thou- 
sand men. He had no artillery. A statement here as 
to strength is immaterial in this case, as one thou- 
sand men, or maybe less, could have accomplished 
all that was done. For the Federals, it was a com- 
plete surprise and a humiliating disaster. The Con- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 49 

federates could hardly realize that they had par- 
ticipated in one of the most brilliant military ex- 
ploits of the war. They had lost one man killed, 
John Graves, of Company A. When our column was 
on the road next morning, after a brief rest, it looked 
very like a Federal column, as thousands of new blue 
overcoats had been captured and were utilized on 
this clear frosty morning. Van Dorn reached Davis' 
Mills, now Michigan City, early in the morning of 
the 21st of December. This place is about twenty 
miles north of Holly Springs and on Wolf River. 
The Federal force here was small, but well protected 
by a fort, rifle pits and a barricaded millhouse. The 
Confederates, on foot, assailed the position furiously 
as if they expected to take it by assault. The fire 
from the little garrison was so galling from across 
the river, quite an insignificant stream at that point, 
that they sheltered themselves for a time behind 
an earthen mill dam constructed along the bank. 
Here we had a slight loss in killed and wounded. 
The retreat to our horses was perilous and the enemy 
made the most of it. While lying in the ditch be- 
side the milldam, a hat elevated above our pro- 
tection was apt to receive two or three bullet holes. 
Lieutenant Statler of Company E had a Holly 
Springs hat ruined by a minie ball passing through 
the band and on through his hair. Poor fellow, when 



50 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

I found his dead body, the day after the battle of 
Harrisburg, July 14th, 1864, I noticed that the ball 
that killed him had passed through his hat band. 

After the affair at Davis' Mill we retired to the 
neighborhood of the Fletcher Lane place and rested 
for part of the night. Our horses had a bountiful 
feed and a short rest. What must be done must 
be done quickly. So we struck the usual trot. My 
little blooded stallion seemed to know just what was 
wanted. He would lie down like a tired dog when 
the column made a short halt, but was all life antl 
animation when it was moving. Across Wolf river 
at Moscow in the early morning, we took the road 
to Somerville. It was said that we would repeat the 
Holly Springs business at Bolivar. The men of Com- 
pany E knew every road and by-path leading to the 
town. Our hopes were high. We were willing to 
head a surprise party, or lead an assault. We should 
be fighting in the presence of our own people — the 
home folks. But we passed on to Danceyville, and 
that did not look like going to Bolivar. A short halt 
and a countermarch, and we were surely on the road 
to Bolivar. 

We had traveled over much of Fayette and Harde- 
man counties, but bivouacked on Clear Creek on the 
night of December 23rd. We had been bountifully 
fed right here when on our way to Randolph tht. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 51 

year before and had slept on this ground part of 
a night on the Armstrong raid. The rank and file 
were confident that we would go into Bolivar, only 
a few miles distant, the next morning, and have a 
jolly Christmas right at home. That was not to be. 
Our scouts and spies reported that the Federals in 
great force were strongly fortified and were ready 
for us. They had evidently heard from Holly 
Springs. Van Dorn drew off to Middleburg, seven 
miles southwest of Bolivar where a small garrison 
was protected by a brick storehouse with a hall 
above, through the walls of which they had made 
many portholes. Here we needed some kind of ar- 
tillery. The Federals stood bravely to their guns 
and refused to comply with our demand to surrender. 
It was a detachment of the Twelfth Michigan infan- 
try, which the community thought to be about as 
devilish a lot as ever came south. 

At Middleburg I saw the prettiest line of battle in 
action that I saw in the whole war. It was Ross' 
Texas brigade advancing on foot with a firing line 
of skirmishers several rods in advance. As we stood 
to the rear in reserve, I could but take pride in 
this fine body of Texans, as Sul Ross, afterward 
governor of Texas, was my schoolmate. He was a 
noble young fellow at college, a gallant Indian fight- 
er before the war, a successful general in the Con- 



52 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

federate army, an incorruptible statesman after the 
war and, finally, the most popular man in Texas. I 
was glad to call him friend. I have passed Middio- 
burg many a time since then, but always think of 
Ross' line of battle. "After life's fitful fever he 
sleeps well." 

Van Dorn retired, without molestation from the 
Federals, while Grant hastened to break camp on 
the Tallahatchie and to fall back to Memphis. The 
object of the expedition had been pretty fully ac- 
complished. 



CHAPTER V. 



SOME PERSONALS AND POR- 
TRAITURES. 



When Van Dorn reached Ripley on his way south, 
Dr. Bob Mayes and I concluded that we would take 
a short respite from camp life and make an expedi- 
tion of our own into Alabama. While maturing our 
plans we fully realized that we had to take the 
chances of being reported absent without leave. We 
reasoned that it was mid-winter and that neither 
army would make an offensive move for some time. 
Then everybody was in a good humor because of 
our late success, and besides we knew that we were 
not serving under martinets in the persons of our 
high officers — a rather common conclusion in those 
days. So at the first favorable opportunity we two 
moved by the left flank and took the road to Gun- 
town. This was the same road along which Sturgis 
advanced and retreated when Brice's Cross Roads 
became a famous place. We passed the cross roads 
and the now noted Dr. Agnew residence around which 
the battle was to be fought. We could not tell 
when we might come into contact with a Federal 
scouting party from Corinth or a squad of bush- 
whackers. In such an emergency, we were not to 
show our weakness to the enemy, but were to bluff 



54 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

them, if we could, and take to the woods in good 
order. We had seven shots apiece and plenty of 
ammunition. We questioned citizens in regard to 
the roads and the prospects of trouble. When we 
struck the wild country east of the Tombigbee, we 
were always on the alert and were cautious how 
we let any man approach us. The further we went 
the wilder the country appeared. Rough, rocky roads 
wound along the streams and down through the val- 
leys, which lay between the lofty hills. Excellent 
places to be shot at. 

Out through the village of Allsboro, we took the 
road to the old town of Frankfort with lighter hearts. 
We spoke gratefully of the kindness of the citizens 
along our route, who had treated us so hospitably, 
and concluded that we were never in as much danger 
as we had thought we were. We had not seen an 
armed man on the trip. At Tuscumbia, Mayes took 
the road to Courtland, I the one to Florence. I found 
the bridge over the Tennessee had been destroyed, 
and was compelled to take the risk of crossing on 
a rather dilapidated oar boat. But I felt at home 
on the dear old soil. Little Ernest, my first born, 
was soon to be in my arms and loving hands, includ- 
ing the old servants, were to leave nothing undone 
to make me feel happy. I was to stand again by 
the grave of a bride-mother, the beloved of all Flor- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 55 

ence, and too those of her father and two brothers 
over which the fresh earth still lay. My tired horse 
is really climbing the old hill ; I see the old Dr. Todd 
place up to my left, the antiquated buildings of older 
Florence, the pillared seat of justice, built in the 
long ago. Why, I am right up in town. I turn into 
Military street. The old home is in sight. My heart ! 
My heart ! Bright eyes ! Bright eyes ! The loved ones 
with the baby. 

But I look around and find the place greatly 
changed. I see more women than men. Two col- 
leges closed and little or no business doing in the 
stores. No courts in session. Many residences closed. 
Small groups of anxious men stand on the corners, 
for Bragg is fighting at Murfreesboro and many of 
the Florence soldiers are there. Just such meagei 
reports Avere coming in as would create the greatest 
suspense. The towm had been in the hands of the 
Federals much of the time since the battle of Shiloh, 
and had been greatly harassed by raiders. Cloth- 
ing and provisions, even the necessities of life, were 
hard to get. So the people talked mostly of the dis- 
tress and gloom brought on by the war. Men and 
women, heretofore prosperous and happy, were 
bowed down with grief and, in many cases, in dire 
want. These good people were subject to insult and 
liable to lose the last crust at the hands of a rude 



56 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

soldiery. In fact, they did undergo, before the war 
was over, sufferings more intense and cruelties more 
severe. The state of affairs described bore hard upon 
all, but especially so upon the conservative element 
made up largely of old gentlemen, patriotic and true, 
who believed that a peaceable settlement could have 
been effected and war avoided. I was in sympathy, 
from the first, with that element in politics, who, 
while opposed to secession, were yet, when war was 
flagrant, gave up everything and, in many cases, 
took up arms in behalf of the South. I mention as 
typical of this class William B. Wood, Henry C. 
Jones and R. M. Patton. 

Governor Patton, a gentleman of the old school, 
served his state well, and had two sons killed in 
battle. Judge Billy Wood was Colonel of the Six- 
teenth Alabama Infantry. I saw Stratton Jones, son 
of Judge Jones, dead on the field at Pulaski. As typi- 
cal of those who thought differently on public ques- 
tions, I mention the names of Richard W. Walker, Ed- 
ward A. O'Neal and William H. Price, true as steel 
and patriots all. Walker was a famous lawyer and I 
heard it said then that he had much to do with the 
formation of the Confederate Constitution. O'Neal 
commanded a regiment in Lee's army and after the 
war was governor. Major Price was killed in the same 
charge at Perryville in which his friend, Major 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 57 

Frank Gailor, the father of Bishop Gailor, fell. I 
record these things in a reminiscent mood, it is true, 
but they serve to illustrate what had taken place 
all over the South and, moreover, how people of radi- 
cally diverse opinions on paramount questions can 
stand shoulder to shoulder when they come into the 
presence of a common danger. When the majority 
of the Southern people had spoken, Florence became 
a unit on the subject of resistance to Federal aggres- 
sion. About all of her eligible men had gone into 
the army, and at the time of which I write she was 
mourninsr the death of manv of her bravest and 
best. Lee had retired from Maryland and news 
came that Bragg was falling back, showing that 
Antietam and Murfreesboro were, at most, drawn 
battles. Coupled with Bragg 's retreat from Ken- 
tucky after the battle of Perryville they certainly 
emphasized the success of the Federals in preventing 
a Confederate invasion of the North. "Hope springs 
eternal in the human breast," and there were some 
cheerful faces in Florence. Among these was that 
of Colonel Tol Chisholm, the provost marshal, who 
generously furnished me with a pass that was sup- 
posed to be good from Florence to Grenada. I 
thought at the time that this was a wide territory 
for the authority of a petty provost to cover, but 
it was good at nearby points, and might be available, 



58 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

or at least better than nothing, further down the 
country. So having secured a splendid new mount, 
I turned my face toward Mississippi. There could 
be no concert of action between my fellow soldier, 
Dr. Mayes, and myself as communication was poor 
between Florence and Courtland. We were com- 
pelled to act independently. So, armed with Tol 
Chisholm's pass against the Confederates and a good 
carbine and a navy six against any hostile attack 
that might beset me on my way, I drew rein in three 
or four days at Cotton Gin on the Tombigbee. I 
could now move at my leisure and as my good steed 
stepped over the muddy roads as if he scorned them, 
I arrived all right in Grenada. 

My part of the personal expedition which Mayes 
and I projected had so far turned out charmingly, 
but at Grenada everything was not exactly lovely. 
In the disposition of the troops, the Seventh Tennes- 
see Cavalry had been ordered to take post north of 
the Yalobusha for rest and recuperation. The late 
Senator George, commander of the post, had orders 
to permit no one to pass north without permission 
from headquarters of the general commanding the 
army. I approached Colonel George with nothing to 
fortify me but a little assurance and Tol Chisholm's 
pass. He was a man of pleasing personality with 
whose countenance I was somewhat familiar, as I 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 59 

had seen him at my father's house back in the 50 's. 
I didn't, however, disclose my identity for the pur- 
pose of working myself into his good graces, but on 
his refusal of a permit concluded it best to retire as 
gracefull}^ as possible, thankful that he had not 
placed me under arrest. Across the river or to the 
guard house, for I had to have subsistence for self 
and horse. I rode directly to the river, where an 
officer was ferrying some men and horses in a boat 
nearly as long as the river was wide. I didn't even 
exhibit Tol Chisholm's pass, but in the confusion, 
incident to such occasions, I rode boldly into the 
boat and was soon safe on the north side. I had some 
occasion for reflection on my adventure and my in- 
terview with Colonel George. Only a few years ago 
I had charge of the schools of Grenada, and I never 
looked at the site of the old Brown Hotel that the 
same old reflections did not recur. In a short time 
I had the pleasure of congratulating Mayes on the 
pronounced success of his trip. As I expe 't to write 
even more fully concerning my impressions of some 
of Ihe men with whom I served than heretofore, 
I mhy say something of Mayes right here. Whei'e- 
ever the short sketches occur, they may be taken as 
only partial portraitures of character, tinged in some 
instances, perhaps, with my tributes of praise to men 
who would do their duty at all hazards. Well then, 



60 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

r>r. R. M. Mayes was somewhat peculiar in his mental 
makeup, but withal a well-bred gentleman, a good 
soldier and a friend to rely on in an emergency. He 
abandoned the practice of dentistry for a season, 
after the war, and concluded he could make money 
in the cultivation of peanuts. One crop satisfied him. 
He married a young lady of estimable character, 
whom I knew well and who, though reared a blue 
stocking Presbyterian, by his own insistence fol- 
lowed him in his peregrinations through theological 
troubles. I may well say this, for Mayes was reared 
a Baptist but some time after the war was con- 
firmed in the Episcopal Church. He at last sought 
satisfaction in the Roman Catholic Church. The 
couple reared a family, and I believe are still liv- 
ing in San Antonio. The thought comes to me now, 
and I will record it here, that I have learned about 
as much in my long life by reading people as I have 
by reading books. In this regard, peculiar people 
have cut no small figure. Indeed, I can say that, 
psychologically speaking, the eccentricities of abnor- 
mal people afford a wider range of study than do 
the mental activities of people who are always mere- 
ly at themselves. Though it may be true that "a 
fool is born every minute," all peculiar people are 
not fools. 

We spent a few weeks at old Pharsalia, on the Yo- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 61 

kona river, where we constructed rude winter quar- 
ters, or "shanties," for timber was abundant. We 
had a great snowstorm, and had to keep fires glowing. 
We had much pleasure here in receiving and enter- 
taining for a part of a day Mrs. R. P. Neely, of Boli- 
var, and her daughter. Miss Kate, the latter of whom 
had been banished from her home by Gen. Brayman, 
the Federal commander of the post. Mrs. Neely was 
a splendid type of the true Southern woman, who, 
like all her children, stood always ready to make 
sacrifices for the Southern soldiers. She was a woman 
of most charming personality and gentle refinement, 
that could have filled almost any station to which 
ladies are called. Mrs. Elizabeth Lea Neely lived 
to a great age, and retained to the end the profound 
respect of all the good people of Bolivar. As for 
Miss Kate— now Mrs. Collins, of Memphis— she was, 
or rather is, a woman of the Grace Darling or MoUie 
Pitcher type, who would go to the rescue of those 
in peril, or take her place at the guns, if it were to 
repel the enemies of her country. May her days be 
long and happy. Charles R. Neely, the elder brother, 
killed at Price's Cross Roads, was already a valuable 
member of Company E, but here comes young Jiimny, 
the present capable Superintendent of the Western 
Hospital, who wanted to be a soldier. His mother 
protested that he was too young, but as an irregular 



62 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

he did honorable service as the war progressed. We 
changed our camp by taking post at Mitchell's Cross 
Roads, near the mouth of Coldwater, where forage 
was plentiful and the service light. We had here a 
goodly number of recruits and returning soldiers from 
Tennessee. Rations were plentiful, but poor, but 
"foraging" was good and the citizens hospitable. 
It was a calm before a storm ; indeed, it burst upon 
us rather suddenly one day that the Federals at Mem- 
phis were fitting out an expedition, which, taking ad- 
vantage of the flooding stage of the waters, would 
go through the Yazoo Pass into the Coldwater river, 
thence into the Tallahatchie, and, finally, into the 
Yazoo river, and thus take Vicksburg in the rear. 
The projectors of the expedition were convinced of 
its feasibility, and the Confederates were proportion- 
ately alarmed. Fort Pemberton was hastily con- 
structed, near the junction of the Tallahatchie and 
Yalobusha; heavy guns were mounted and a large 
force concentrated at that point. The cavalry was 
ordered to camp in the vicinity, and to scout and 
picket wherever a horse could go. Within a few 
days the Federal fleet of gunboats and transports ar- 
rived and opened fire on the fort. General Loring, 
"Old Blizzard," was on the alert, and the resistance 
so stubborn that the fleet withdrew and made its way, 
in a much shattered condition, to Memphis. Glad 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 63 

enough to get out of the black mud around Green- 
wood, the Seventh Regiment was ordered to the hills. 
We camped about Grenada and Panola, and watched 
the roads leading toward Memphis, for the Federals 
had resumed their old practice of raiding and plun- 
dering. Brigadier-General James R. Chalmers, who 
had made some reputation in Bragg 's army, was 
placed in command of all the cavalry in North Mis- 
sissippi. For a month or two we had no clash with 
the enemy. As soon as the roads would permit, we 
went over to the Mississippi river, the boys said, "to 
fight gunboats." We struck the river in the vicinity 
of Commerce. We soon saw the smoke of an ascend- 
ing steamer. Concealed along the shore, we waited 
with almost breathless anxiety the approach of the 
steamer. All was in readiness. Our only cannon 
— a four-pounder — was masked on top of the levee. 
"Bang!" went a gun. There, now! Mat Hornsby 
had accidentally shot Bill Fulghum, but the wound 
was slight. The silence was more breathless. On 
came the steamer. When she did get abreast of us, 
the rattle of small arms was something to remember. 
The little cannon turned loose her first shot, but the 
rebound carried her into the mud back of the levee, 
where she sank up to the hubs. There was a wiM 
scramble among the gunners and others to place the 
piece in position. There were other shots and other 



64 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

rebounds, but if those fellows did any harm, it was 
to the timber over in Arkansas. I scarcely think, at 
this distant day, that they could have "hit a hole 
in the air," much less a barndoor at short range. 
Seeing that the Alice Dean was unarmed, our men 
rushed down to the water's edge. A lively fusillade 
was kept up for some minutes, while Colonel Stocks, 
in stentorian voice, demanded of the Captain that 
he bring the boat to shore. This created some amuse- 
ment, for it was like "whistling to the wind," as the 
boat hugged the Arkansas shore and puffed away up 
stream. 

It was now "the good old summer time," and the 
Federals were on the move. On the night of the 
18th of July, we bivouacked near them at the Dr. 
Atkins farm, just below Hernando. Their force con- 
sisted of detachments amounting to 320 men, all 
cavalry, under Major Henry, of the Fourth Ohio. 
Chalmers must have known that his own command 
was much stronger than the enemy's, but they evi- 
dently did not. We held the road to Memphis, and 
it was reasonable to suppose that, when we attacked 
in the early morning, the enemy would, if pressed, 
move along this road. The Seventh Regiment was 
ordered to move through the front grounds of the 
Slocum place and to get as nearly as possible in the 
enemy 's rear. The plan of battle, as it was afterward 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 65 

developed, seemed to be that the Seventh should 
so push the enemy back upon the other regiments, 
properly placed, that a surrender of the enemy would 
be inevitable. As soon as we caught sight of them, 
mounted and formed along a lane, the fences of which 
they had torn down, our horses were put to their best, 
but, before we fired a shot, the enemy broke to the 
rear. Part of them fell back on our ambuscade, and 
were captured, but our charge had been so furious 
that the greater part were driven so far beyond the 
lines of the regiments waiting to receive them that 
they escaped. The whole command now joined in 
the pursuit at a gallop. Federals and Confederates 
were commingled in one wild race, as we went over 
the fences and through the fields and woods. In 
the Jack Robertson wheat field, there was a resolute 
attempt of a Federal officer to rally his men. He 
did form a perfect line of some twenty men in the 
face of the fierce onslaught, but for a minute only. 
Here Adjutant Pope of the Seventh and Captain W. 
J. Tate of Company E were wounded, and Private 
James Moore of Company E was killed, the only 
man on our side to fall that day. It was a question 
of speed, and those who had the fastest horses met 
with the most exciting adventures. Lieutenant J. P. 
Statler of Company E, being thrown to the ground, 
because of a broken saddle girth, was left afoot, while 



66 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

his fine gray horse escaped with the fleeing enemy. 
There were opportunities to secure a mount, as in 
the excitement of the chase many of our adversaries 
had become separated from their horses. Following 
a country road along which we knew, by their tracks, 
a Federal detachment was escaping, Mat Hornsby 
and I came to a bridge over a small creek, which had 
been broken down, and with a horse fastened in the 
wreck. As this blocked our way, we turned down 
stream to find a crossing. We soon made a rich haul, 
for we came upon six good horses, with all their rig- 
ging, floundering about in water up to the saddle 
skirts. As there was great danger of their being 
drowned, in the excitement of the moment, I waded 
in to their rescue, and soon had one by the bridle. 
With Hornsby 's assistance, I saved the six horses 
with their accoutrements. As I was already well 
mounted, and, mindful of how things turned out at 
Davis' bridge, I suggested to Mat that he select the 
best horse in the lot, turn his own "plug" in, and 
keep mum. He followed my suggestion implicitly, 
and selected the big sorrel. 

James Madison Hornsby was a tip-top, good fel- 
low. I trust he is with the angels, for he was a Con- 
federate soldier, and, after the war, a Baptist 
preacher. 

But we were to have no peace just then, for the 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 67 

Federals were sending out a force which could hold, 
its own with Chalmers' little army. We went into 
the "bottom" again and out to the hills, by way of 
the mouth of Coldwater. On this retreat, we were 
compelled to leave Adjutant W. S. Pope and Captain 
W. J. Tate, severely wounded, at farmhouses, where 
they were tenderly cared for. It happened that 
Pope's mother and sister were in the neighborhood, 
and hastened to his bedside. Within three or four 
days we attacked the works at Collierville, but Chal- 
mers, evidently concluding that the capture of the 
position was not worth the sacrifice that would have 
to be made, drew otf in good order. 

As a large and well-equipped force was reported 
to be moving from Memphis and other points, for 
the purpose of making another raid, but on a larger 
scale, Chalmers thought it prudent to fall back to 
the Yalobusha. As I remember it, the Seventh Ten- 
nessee took the Valley road at Panola, and, crossing 
the river at old Tuscahoma, turned east to Grenada. 
Tarrying only long enough to have our horses shod, 
Lieutenant Harris and I hastened to join the com- 
mand. When we reached the crest of that noted land- 
mark, Pine Hill, just south of the town, we saw dense 
volumes of smoke in the valley. A short distance 
down the slope, we came upon a well-known citizen 
in that country, the late William B. Owens, who ap- 



68 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

peared to be in a very excited state of mind. He 
stated that the Federals already had possession of 
the town, and had deprived him of his horse. I rec- 
ognized in Mr. Owens an old acquaintance, but it 
was no time to recall old friendship. But for him we 
should probably have ridden right into the enemy's 
lines. Harris and I made a quick movement through 
the timber till we reached the CarroUton road. We 
soon drew up at the house of a Mr. Patton, where 
we had an excellent supper and a good feed for our 
horses. We here learned that the railroad bridges 
at Grenada were burned, and that our whole com- 
mand had gone east. It was thought prudent for us 
to cross certain roads before daylight. I now felt 
sure of myself, because in these same glades and hills 
of the Abituponbouge I had, when boyhood's days 
were glad, chased the bounding deer and lay in wait 
for the festive wild turkey. It was in this section 
that I was inured to toil on the farm, and acquired 
a skill in horsemanship that afterward, and many a 
time, stood me in good stead in a close place. To 
me, the abode of peace had become the seat of war. 

Leaving Lieutenant Harris, now safe on the road 
to the command, I turned aside to make a short caU 
on the family of my only brother, the late Dorsey 
G. Hubbard, a member of the Fifth Mississippi Cav- 
alry. Just as I reached the front gate, and was on 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 69 

the very spot where, in 1850, my father's wagons and 
other vehicles halted, after a six weeks' journey from 
North Carolina, I was accosted by some soldiers, who 
were seeking a man who could guide Whitfield 's Texas 
Brigade (Ross') to Lodi. Well, yes; I could do that, 
and did so. While riding along in pleasant conver- 
sation wdth the General and his staff, a gentleman, 
who was somewhat disguised by his whiskers and sol- 
dier clothes, suddenly discovered my identity. It 
was a pleasant meeting and a pleasant greeting, for 
it was none other than that accomplished and genial 
gentleman Captain Davis R. Gurley of Waco, the Ad- 
jutant-General of the Brigade, but a schoolmate of 
mine. Gurley was, at college, the roommate of the 
gallant General Dan McCook, of the Federal Army, 
who was killed at the head of his brigade at Kenne- 
saw Mountain. Many years ago I had the pleasure 
of meeting him in his own city. 

The Federals, in the movement alluded to, having 
seemingly accomplished all they had set out to do, 
returned to the line of the ^Memphis & Charleston 
Railroad. The Confederates, under Chalmers, hav- 
ing now no need of assistance from AVhitiield's Bri- 
gade, marched, by way of Grenada, to Irby's mill, 
just west of Como. 

We were now in a choice portion of Mississippi, 
and had more holiday soldiering and plenty of time 



70 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

to rest. We moved camp from place to place, as our 
needs in supplies demanded. Indeed, we had little 
else to do than to sit around and discuss such sub- 
jects as to when the war would end, how it would 
end, and how we should be treated, if finally de- 
feated. On these subjects there were great variety 
and contrariety of opinions. We had the physical 
facts before us, and it looks, at this distant day, that 
there might have been but one opinion as to the final 
result. In the Gettysburg campaign, Lee's army had 
been defeated and so greatly depleted that it was 
beyond the point of ever being made as strong as it 
had been. The Federals had unlimited resources in 
men, particularly in foreigners. These, though hire- 
lings, knew how to throw up breastworks, mine and 
countermine. In surrendering Vicksburg and Port 
Hudson, the Confederates had weakened the armies 
in the West, and lost control of the Mississippi river. 
They had gained a victory at Chickamauga in Sep- 
tember, which never could be called great because of 
the great loss of men. In November, Bragg was 
driven back at all points by Grant, at Missionary 
Ridge, and retreated, with an army greatly depleted, 
to Dalton, Ga. These days were somewhat restful 
to our particular command, yet they were gloomy 
days. We heard of a small victory here and there 
for the Confederates, but all the late larger affairs 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 71 

had resulted in favor of our enemies. Many believed 
that the establishment of the independence of the 
Confederacy was improbable, if not impossible. With 
the lights before them, men could not be censured for 
having an honest opinion. We could only hope that 
something would happen that would turn the tide 
in our favor. It took moral courage, and plenty of 
it, for a man to make himself a target for bullets, 
when he had no very reasonable hope that, even by 
his death, he would save his country. While some 
abandoned the cause, it is to the everlasting credit 
of the majority of the men of the Seventh Tennessee 
Cavalry that they stood by those who had the direc- 
tion of affairs, and, to that extent, had our destiny 
in their hands. 

No more fighting now for many weeks, during 
which time both men and horses were put iu fine con- 
dition. On October 8th, Company E was in a sharp 
contest Mnth Federal cavalry at Salem, east of Lamar, 
but without decisive results. Chalmers then moved 
towards Collierville, at which place he assailed the 
works with his whole force, but the Federals, having 
the advantage of a position in a fort and a barricaded 
railroad station, succeeded in withstanding the at- 
tack. Both sides fought desperately for a short time, 
and many were killed and wounded. It was related 
as a veracious story that Col. George, of the Fifth 



-ll NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

Mississippi, while leading his regiment in the charge, 
lost control of his horse, and was carried over the 
works and landed among the enemy without a scratch. 
Another incident of this battle was that General Sher- 
man, having just arrived from Memphis, hastily aban- 
doned his car, and, with his staff, rushed to a place 
of safety in the station, not being able to reach the 
fort. A line mare, on which Adjutant Pope was 
killed at Tishomingo, was taken from the train, which 
was set on fire. It is safe to say that if our men 
had known there was so rich a prize as Sherman and 
his staff so near at hand, they would have taken that 
depot at all hazards. Chalmers drew off in order, 
as in the first battle here, but the Federals felt suffi- 
ciently encouraged to follow and fall upon our rear, 
at Quinn's mill, on Coldwater. This little battle was 
picturesque, as the river separated the combatants, 
and it was dark enough to see the flashes of the guns. 
Here Adjutant Pope was thrown from his fine cap- 
tured mare, which ran out some distance into the 
country, where she was taken up by a citizen. She 
was brought in the next week by John Duncan of 
Company E, who had been detailed for that pur- 
pose. 

At an opportune moment, the Seventh Tennessee 
drew off from its fighting position, and followed the 
command till a late hour, when it went into bivouac 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE -JZ 

at Ingram's mill, on Pidgeon Roost creek. Here we 
were attacked at daylight by the Second Kansas Cav- 
alry (Jayhawkers), on foot. Company E, under 
Lieutenant Statler, held them in check till we could 
retire in good order. At Wall Hill their advance 
came into view, led by an officer mounted on a very 
white horse. As we went out of the lane, which 
led south from the village, and reached a skirt of tim- 
ber on an elevation, we exhausted all our strategy in 
our efforts to induce the officer on the white horse 
to come within range. He capered around on his 
horse, something after the manner of General M. Jeff 
Thompson, whom I have told you about seeing in 
Missouri, when mounted on his little spotted stallion, 
but never did take the bait which we set for him. 
Falling back through Chulahoma, our whole force 
occupied a strong natural position at the old town 
of Wyatt, on the Tallahatchie. Here a heavy force 
of dismounted cavalry charged our position, but were 
driven back with great loss. Being now evidently 
reinforced, they returned to the attack with so much 
spirit, and the Confederates held their ground with 
so much tenacity, that in places the contest became 
hand to hand. The battle continued till after night- 
fall, when the Federals were driven back at all points 
of the line, with heavy loss. The Conf ederatesAcrossed 
to the south side on a pontoon improvised for the 



74 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

occasion. In this whole campaign, the Confederate 
loss was comparatively light, though it had fought 
three battles in four days. Company E had lost only 
two men wounded, who were able to ride off the field 
at Collierville. These were S. H. Clinton and Cad 
Linthicum, two of our very best men. One of the 
things to remember about Wyatt is that a heavy rain- 
storm prevailed while the battle was raging. During 
the next few weeks we moved from place to place, 
chiefly for the purpose of getting subsistence. AYe 
had plenty of time to discuss the conduct of the war 
and the possibilities and probabilities of the future. 
We had men in our regiment who could have estab- 
lished two or three Confederacies. At least, that is 
the way they talked. Company E, being temporarily 
detached, was posted at Coldwater to watch the move- 
ments of the enemy in the direction of Memphis. All 
this, and more, I shall tell you in the next chapter. 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE SOOY SMITH RAID- 
PORT PILLOW. 



"When the snow began to fly, Company E was com- 
fortably quartered in the vacant storehouses at Cold- 
water, thirty-one miles from Memphis. The men 
provided themselves with heavier clothing, some arti- 
cles of which were brought through the lines from 
home, while others were secured through blockade 
runners, as those citizens were called who carried 
cotton to Memphis and brought out supplies on a 
Federal permit. The service was light, with no picket 
duty, for the winter was so cold and the roads so 
bad that a Federal raid could hardly be expected. 
But the hours must be whiled away. So, when the 
boys were not rubbing up their arms and grooming 
their horses, they were cutting firewood, playing 
poker or dancing. The dancing was a feature. Boots 
were heavy, but the dancers were muscular and 
strong. They could thread the Virginia reel or tread 
through the mazes of a quartet, but the eight-couple 
cotillion, in which a greater number could partici- 
pate, thus giving more spirit to the amusement, was 
the favorite. In this the most intricate figures were 
practiced to give zest to the performance. These 
included the "grand cutshort," which, as I recall 



76 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

it, after nearly half a century, was a combination of 
"swing corners," "ladies' grand chain" and "set 
to your partner." In the parlance of that day, it 
was "immense," for I feel it in my old bones as I 
tell you about it. The said figure was learned from 
a blue-eyed fiddler of Company H of Weakley 
County, who, like many others, after a short expe- 
rience in 1862, concluded he couldn't kill them all, 
anyhow, and would, therefore, engage in more peace- 
ful pursuits beyond the range of the conscript offi- 
cers. James H. Grove and I, both of whom knew 
how to draw the bow, furnished the music, and the 
boys declared, of course, that it was good. Grove 
was the father of E. W. Grove, the famous manufac- 
turer of medicines of St. Louis, whose remedies are 
sold in every civilized country on the globe. The 
father and I were fellow private soldiers in the 
army. The son and I, for some time after the war, 
sustained the relation of teacher and pupil. 

One day, while on a short scout to Hernando, I 
met a body of Federals, under a flag of truce, who 
were negotiating an exchange of prisoners, the de- 
tails of which were soon arranged with a Confederate 
officer. Very soon the Yanks and Johnny Rebs were 
mingling as if they expected never to shoot at one 
another again. I had the unusual experience that 
day of dining with the Federal officers at the house 
of Judge Vance, a well-known citizen. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 77 

On the 4th of December, Company E, leaving all 
impediments in camp, made a demonstration along 
the Memphis & Charleston Railroad, between Ross- 
ville and Moscow. While tearing up some railroad 
track, we heard the noise of battle at Moscow, where 
Stephen D. Lee, with Ross' and McCuUoch's Bri- 
gades, met with a hot resistance and considerable loss, 
while trying to destroy the railroad bridge over Wolf 
river. It was understood at the time that these dem- 
onstrations were made mostly for the purpose of cov- 
ering Forrest's advance north. He crossed the rail- 
road that day at Saulsbury, and, proceeding north, 
received a cordial welcome on the next day at Boh- 
var. It was known that he came across from Rome, 
Ga., to Okolona, Miss., with not more than three 
hundred men, including Morton's Battery, around 
which small command as a nucleus he was to form 
Forrest's Cavalry Corps. His resources consisted of 
Ross', McCulloch's and Richardson's Brigades, all 
very much depleted, with a few petty commands scat- 
tered here and there over the country. The weather 
was so cold and the roads so bad that we thought 
Company E was safely immune from an attack on 
its camp at Coldwater, yet Forrest was making a 
raid within the enemy's lines, where he was to stay 
twenty-one days, defeat superior forces in five con- 



78 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

siclerable battles, and day and night display such 
energy and military genius as would keep him out 
of the hands of the enemy, who were moving from 
many directions to entrap him. He set about collect- 
ing the absentees and other recruits, many of whom 
were without arms and poorly mounted. He acted 
upon the principle that an unarmed man was better 
for the occasion than no man at all, for, if a recruit 
had nothing at hand but the "rebel yell," he could 
at least help to intimidate an adversary. 

Bad roads and swollen streams had no terrors for 
our General, who, at the critical moment, turned his 
face south with his command greatly augmented, and, 
with a convoy of wagons laden with supplies, besides 
about two hundred beef cattle and three hundred 
hogs. 

The Seventh Tennessee did not participate in this 
campaign, the history of which is only slightly 
sketched here in order to give a clear view of the 
military situation at the time Company E was or- 
dered to rejoin the regiment at Como, Miss. Great 
attention was now given to organization and equip- 
ment. Very many of the recruits had to be armed, 
and even clothed, before they could become effective 
soldiers. The work had to be done with dispatch, 
as we were now having more sunshine, and the roads 
were drying up. The enemy might soon be on the 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 79 

move. Forrest, having been promoted to the rank 
of Major-General, assumed command of all the cav- 
alry in North Mississippi and West Tennessee. 
Vfithin a few days the organizations were perfected, 
the Seventh Tennessee being assigned to the Fourth 
Brigade, commanded by Col. Jeffrey Forrest, the 
youngest of the Forrest brothers. The entire com- 
mand was greatly elated by the success of the recent 
raid, the addition of so many new men, and the pros- 
pect of serving under a man who knew nothing but 
success. 

Rumors came in thick and fast that the Federals 
were preparing to advance both from Memphis and 
Vicksburg. The Fourth Brigade dropped down to 
Grenada, in order to watch and frustrate any move- 
ment from the south. We had frequently camped at 
Grenada, and the scenes were familiar. As for my- 
self, I had known the country and many of the peo- 
ple ten years before — yes, indeed, before old college 
days. We occupied the very ground whence we 
started on the Holly Springs raid, about one year 
before. Who could tell but that we should start on 
one just as remarkable from the same place? 

Strong columns of Federals were reported moving 
from JMemphis. From his headquarters at Oxford, 
the Confederate commander made such dispositions 
of his four brigades as would most likely defeat th3 



80 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

plans oi the enemy, so far as they were developed. 
During the first days of February, it was discovered 
that about seven thousand well-appointed cavalry 
were on the road to the rich prairie lands of East 
Mississippi. Gen. Sooy Smith, their commander, 
moved with so much dispatch that Forrest, though 
moving with celerity eastward, found it impossible 
to head him off till the Federal forces had reached 
West Point. It was the morning of the 20th of Feb- 
ruary, 1864. The Federals, going down through Pon- 
totoc and Oklolona, had marked their advance by 
burning houses, barns and fences, and plundering 
larders and hen roosts. Up to that date, nothing like 
this had been seen in our part of the country. Our 
soldiers were aroused by the reports brought in. Of 
course, there was a firm-set resolution not only to 
give the ruthless enemy blow for blow, but to avenge 
the wrongs done to old men, women and children. It 
looked as if a great battle was impending, and the 
Confederates were never more ready. We did not 
know it then, but Forrest was merely trying to hold 
the enemy in check till reinforcements, under Stephen 
D. Lee, could arrive from some point below. Jeffrey 
Forrest's brigade had already come in contact with 
Smith's cavalry between West Point and Aberdeen, 
and was being pressed back upon West Point. Gen. 
Forrest, attacking the enemy with a small force on 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 81 

their extreme right wing, discovered, to his chagrin, 
that they were retreating. There was nothing to do 
but to press them with energy, so as to inflict as great 
a loss as possible upon them. Soon it was a lively 
chase, and the men of Company E were, for the first 
time, to see Forrest in battle. He was soon right up 
with the Seventh Regiment, as the men urged their 
horses through that black prairie mud. Four miles 
north of West Point the enemy made a stubborn re- 
sistance, in the edge of a small w'oods, but the pur- 
suers, dismounting quickly, drove them away in con- 
fusion. Again it was a rattling pace through the mud 
till the enemy made another stand, five miles further 
on, where they sought to protect themselves at a rude 
bridge over a miry little creek, by tearing down 
fences and making barricades with the rails. Here 
the Confederates again pressed them in front and on 
the flanks till they gave way. This running fight, 
with intervals of resistance, was kept up till night- 
fall. It was an all-day fight, and we had many sad 
things to remember. Our dead and wounded were 
behind us, even if victory was in front of us. Weary 
and worn, our men and horses were given a few hours 
of rest. Fortunately, the men found plenty of sub- 
sistence and forage in the camp abandoned by the 
Federals, which helped wonderfully in the work to 
be done next day. 



82 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

By 4 o'clock on the morning of the 22d of Feb- 
ruary, McCulloch's and Jeffrey Forrest's brigades, 
led by Forrest himself, were moving toward Okolona, 
and driving the enemy before them. The distance 
was fourteen miles, over a road almost impassable. 

When the Confederates arrived at Okolona, they 
found a strong line of the enemy drawn up in such 
a position that they could have made a stubborn 
resistance, but Barteau, commanding Bell's brigade, 
and McCulloeh with his own, promptly drove them 
from the position and rushed them in some confusion 
along the road towards Pontotoc. The Federals 
adopted the tactics of the previous day by forming 
heavy lines in favorable positions and resisting stub- 
bornly till attacked front and flank, in many in- 
stances with Forrest in the forefront, they were com- 
pelled to retreat. The last stand made was at Prairie 
Mound, seven miles from Okolona and some thirty 
miles from West Point, where the fighting began on 
the morning of the previous day. The Sooy Smith 
raid was at an end with heavy loss to the invaders 
and a proportionate loss to the victors, for during 
the two days Forrest fought the 7,000 well equipped 
cavalry with a force only about half as large and 
made up largely of raw recruits. In one of the last 
encounters Jeffrey Forrest was killed at the head of 
his brigade, and died in the arms of his famous 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. S3 

brother. No more pathetic scene was ever witnessed 
on any battlefield. 

To look upon the ghastly dead or to hear the groans 
of the wounded lessens the sweets of victory and em- 
phasizes the horrors of war. 

After so strenuous a campaign, both men and 
horses needed recuperation, and so the Seventh Ten- 
nessee went into camp in that bountiful section of 
country about Mayhew, west of Columbus. It was 
easy to see that the military situation, now at the 
opening of spring, was such that if the Federals did 
not come after Forrest, he would certainly go after 
them. Therefore, preparations for a campaign were 
active and men and horses were put in the best pos- 
sible condition. On the 15th of March Forrest with 
only part of his command was moving north for the 
purpose of crossing the railroad at Corinth and march- 
ing into Tennessee. By the 23rd we had passed Tren- 
ton and were still moving north without any resist- 
ance. We were now satisfied that either Union City 
or Paducah was Forrest's objective point. 

On the morning of the 24th Colonel William L. 
Duckworth of the Seventh Tennessee, in command 
of a temporary brigade, consisting of his own regi- 
ment, McDonald's battallion and Faulkner's Ken- 
tucky regiment, was ordered to attack the Federal 
works at Union City, while Forrest with the main 



84 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

force was hastening towards Paduach. Duckworth 
with his 500 men completely invested the Federal 
fort at Union City in the early morning- and after 
a brisk firing, participated in by both sides, under 
a flag of truce demanded a surrender of the place. 
Lieutenant Henry J. Livingston of Brownsville, with 
a detail of three or four men of which I happened 
to be one, had charge of the flag of truce. When the 
firing ceased we rode up close to the fort, where an 
officer met us. Livingston requested to communicate 
directly with Colonel Isaac R. Hawkins, the command- 
er of the post. This was granted and a short parley 
ensued in which Livingston, acting under orders of 
his superior, demanded a surrender. Hawkins de- 
murred and asked for an interview with Forrest. 
Colonel Duckworth, being now called in and acting 
with an adroitness and finesse that were altogether 
creditable, insisted that he was acting under the direct 
orders of Forrest, who was near at hand with his 
artillery (sic) and who was not in the habit of meet- 
ing officers of inferior rank to himself. That most 
gentlemanly Federal officer. Colonel Hawkins, who 
was now about to surrender to some part of Forrest's 
cavalry for the second time, wishing to avoid the 
effusion of blood, which might be caused by Duck- 
worth's imaginary artillery, concluded to make an un- 
conditional surrender. "When the facts came out and 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 85 

there was slight jeering on the part of our men, these 
men of the Seventh Tennessee, Federal, bore up man- 
fully and turned out to be jolly good fellows, molded 
much after the pattern of the men of our own Seventh 
Tennessee, Confederate. Talking with many of the 
officers and men I concluded that their chagrin would 
have been amusing, if it had not been pathetic. Four 
hundred and seventy-five prisoners with all their sup- 
plies and camp equipage and three hundred horses 
with accoutrements were surrendered. There was not 
at that time an effective Confederate cannon in West 
Tennessee, and Forrest was well on his way to Pa- 

ducah. 

When the Confederates reached the objective point, 
led by Forrest in person, they took possession of the 
town, but met with a bloody resistance when they 
charged the fort in which the Federals had taken 
refuge. They drew off with large spoils of war, con- 
sisting of horses and equipments. The w^hole force 
now turned south, having accomplished the object 
of the expedition. Company E was ordered to Boli- 
var, where the men, subject to order, dispersed to 
their homes to enjoy a furlough. The good old town 
"put her best foot foremost" and gave us a quiet but 
hearty welcome. Some of the boys "shucked their 
army duds" and appeared in other vestments as 
beaux, for there was a bevy of pretty girls in Bolivar. 



86 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

In the round of dances and other social gatherings, 
there was many a sweet word spoken upon which, it 
was hoped, something might be realized "after the 
ratification of a treaty of peace," as the Confederate 
bills all said. Doubtless, some of my friends found, 
when peace did come to the land, that love, even the 
platonic kind, which is sporadic only, is somewhat 
like Mr. Flannegin's train, which was "off agin, on 
agin, gone agin." In other words, the grand passion 
does not always stick like Spaulding's Prepared Glue 
or Aunt Jemimy's Plaster, which the more you try 
to take it off, the more it sticks the faster. 

But there was a bugle call and all good things 
must end. The men came rushing in to report. In 
the little excitement incident to the occasion, Sol Phil- 
lips, while romping with some of his fellow soldiers, 
jumped into what he took to be a large box, which 
turned out to be an old well. Sol soon found bottom 
and set up a yell to which there was a quick response 
by his friends, who drew Sol up greatly frightened 
but only slightly bruised. He still makes his home in 
the hills of Hardeman. 

At the end of about three weeks, or more precisely 
on the 2nd of May, 1864, there was hurrying and 
scurrying among the soldiers. Company E was pres- 
ent in force for duty and McDonald's Battalion was 
on the ground under Major Crews. General Sturgis, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 87 

with a large force of cavalry and artillery, was in 
snch close proximity that he would reach Bolivar late 
in the day. Forrest had already been properly in- 
formed and had given orders for our little force to 
check the Federal advance in order that everything 
on wheels moving south might have a better chance 
to escape. When the Confederates had been properly 
placed behind the old Federal earthworks, west of the 
town, and the battle had begun. General Forrest with 
his escort came unexpectedly upon the field at a gallop 
and took charge. Knowing that he was fighting at 
great odds, at an opportune moment he drew off, but 
not until several men and horses had been wounded. 
Here D. Hill and John MeClammer, temporarily at- 
tached to Company E, were wounded so severely that 
they were left in the hands of the Federals. Major 
Strange of Forrest's staff had his right arm broken, 
but rode off the field. The enemy numbering two 
thousand sustained a heavy loss, forty or fifty killed 
and wounded, as they fought at a disadvantage, the 
Confederates being fairly protected by the old works, 
constructed by Grant two years before. 

The Confederates necessarily retreated in some con- 
fusion, as the Federals making a fllank movement 
had the advantage v>^hen our men started to leave 
their partial shelter. Bringing forward their artillery 
they threw several shots into the town. One struck 



88 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

the residence of Mrs. Brooks, another went through 
the roof of the stable on the Harkins place, and I saw 
one cut off the top of a cedar tree in front of the Dr. 
Peters place, now the residence of Dr. Hugh Tate. 
Just think of it. Here was Company E, being chased 
through its home town. It threw a damper over every 
tender sentiment and all thoughts of love vanished 
into thin air, for we were thanking our stars that 
we had escaped death at the hands of the Federals. 
Just as we were procuring forage at the Dave Mc- 
Kinney place south of Bolivar, I heard the report of 
the gun in the hands of Robert Galloway that killed 
Major Sol Street, a somewhat famous partisan fighter 
or guerrilla. On the 44th anniversary of this tragedy 
I met ]\Ir. Galloway in Memphis. In reply to my re- 
quest to give me a statement in regard to the killing 
of Street, he said, in substance, that he killed him 
because Street had killed his father for the purpose 
of robbery. That a younger brother of Galloway's 
was with his father at the time of the murder, and was 
able to give full particulai's. The boy remembered 
the exact dying words of his father. Street and his 
companions did not secure the elder Galloway's money 
as something, unknow^n to the boy, caused them to 
hastily leave the locality. This was when Robert Gal- 
loway was about sixteen years old. When in about 
two years he had reached the military age, he joined 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 89 

the army and was in the fight at Bolivar where Street 
was pointed out to him by a friend. He shot Street 
before they had dismounted at the bivouac, and in 
the confusion made his escape, but was arrested by 
Lieutenant Statler of Company E. He offered 
Statler a thousand dollars to release him, but the offer 
was declined. Galloway and others state that Gen- 
eral Forrest was in a towering rage when Galloway 
was brought before him, and said that a drum-head 
courtmartial would sentence Galloway to be shot at 
sun up. He tells me that he knows just how it feels 
to be condemned to death, but was not present at the 
contemplated tragedy, as he made his escape at day- 
light, and within a few days was safe within the Fed- 
eral lines at Memphis. Mr. Galloway resided in 
Illinois till after the surrender when he returned to 
Hardeman county. He has reared a large family and 
is an excellent citizen. 

There was much talk when we got quietly settled 
in camp at Verona, Miss., about the capture of Fort 
Pillow, an affair in which the Seventh Tennessee, 
being on detached duty near Randolph, did not par- 
ticipate. Most of this was in regard to what seemed 
to be the senseless conduct of the garrison after they 
must have seen that the place was doomed. After the 
officer in command had refused to comply with the 
demand to surrender and the whole Confederate force 



90 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

moved on their works, the entire garrison, having left 
their flag flying, fell back to a safer place under the 
bank of the river. Much has since been said by North- 
ern writers concerning what they term an unnecessary 
slaughter. It should be remembered that this same 
garrison of both whites and negroes had committed 
numerous outrages upon the people of the surround- 
ing country. These things had come to the ears of 
the Confederates and many of the victims had peti- 
tioned Forrest to avenge their wrongs by breaking up 
what appeared to be a den of thieves and marauders. 
IIowbeit,part of them were Tennesseeans. Add to all 
this, that the garrison had been lavishly stimulated 
with whisky, as was evident from the fact that a num- 
ber of barrels of whisky and beer with tin dippers at- 
tached were found by the Confederates, and it is not 
hard to see why there was unnecessary slaughter. 
The incident could be dismissed by saying that those 
within the fort knew that they deserved condign pun- 
ishment because of the outrages committed on inno- 
cent people, and being somewhat in a state of intoxi- 
cation, were incited to resist to the last extremity, 
while the Confederates were incited to victory by 
every instinct that impels a manly soldier to resent 
an insult and to protect the innocent. If General 
Forrest had no other victory to his credit, his. fame 
would be secure. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 91 

Belated soldiers coming down from Tennessee soon 
brought to us the information that Sturgis took pos- 
session of Bolivar as soon as we had retreated on the 
evening of the 2nd of May, and burned the court- 
house, the Baptist church, one of the hotels and sev- 
eral other buildings. Bad news for Company B. 



CHAPTER VII. 



BRICE'S CROSS ROADS. 



In the beautiful month of May, and it is a lovely 
season away down in Mississippi, the Seventh Ten- 
nessee was moved around so much and camped at so 
many places, that it is difficult to remember which 
places came first. The service was not especially 
irksome and the weather was fine. A half dozen 
men of Company E, were sent on a tour of observation 
up through Holly Springs and in the direction of 
Memphis, which I remember to have greatly enjoyed. 
The danger of the service was sufficiently great to 
make us alert while enjoying the hospitality of the 
people who were not only ready, day and night, to 
give us of their scanty stores, but to help us with such 
information as they had in regard to the movements 
of the enemy. AYe rejoined the regiment at Abbe- 
ville, feeling as if we had had a vacation. 

About this time the Seventh Tennessee was bri- 
gaded with Dufi^'s Regiment and A. H. Chalmers' 
Battalion, about as good a body of fighting men as 
could have been gotten together. This organization 
was known as Rucker's Brigade that won distinction 
at Brice's Cross Roads and Harrisburg. We had 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 93 

only known Rucker as the gallant commander of the 
upper batteries at Island No. 10. We had seen men 
there, carrying ammunition to his guns, wade in water 
up to their waists, when it looked from a distance lika 
the outflow from the river might carry away every 
man that stood to his post. At our first sight of him 
the boys said he had "a sort of bulldog look." We 
soon discovered that tenacity was one of his charac- 
teristics. 

It was now about the first of June, 1864, and 
General Sturgis moving out from Memphis was north 
of Ripley with an army reported to be about 10,000 
of all arms. Rucker was ordered to cross the Talla- 
hatchie at New Albany and fall upon the right flank 
of the enemy, as they advanced south, in the vicinity 
of Ripley. After some brisk fighting just south of 
Ripley with very little loss to either side Rucker, 
seeing that the enemy was in great force, prudently 
drew off and took post at Baldwyn. In the meantime, 
Lee and Forrest were concentrating their forces to 
deliver battle somewhere further south. 

In the little affair south of Ripley, when ordered 
with one or two men to a position on our extreme left 
until relieved, I saw approaching along a country 
pathway a fine ambulance drawn by two splendid 
mules. A Federal outfit, perhaps, which wouli in- 
evitably fall into our hands. It came up at a sweep- 



94 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

ing trot. The face of the man in charge was familiar. 
It was that of the late AA^illiam H. Wood of M(^mphis. 
Strange position in which to find so steadfast a Union 
man — moving rapidly ahead of the Federal army and 
seeking refuge within the Confederyte lines. This 
he would accomplish in a few minutes, but there was 
no time to ask questions, for the Bring was heavy on 
th'j main road. The gentleman must be on an import- 
ant mission, at least to him. He ivas, for at a time, 
when thousands of negroes had taken )<.;fuge within 
the Federal lines and the day for buying and selling 
this species of property had passed, Mr. Wood had 
conceived the idea of running his negroes south, con- 
verting them into cotton, and eventually into gold. 
This incident is chiefly worth mentioning, in a remin- 
iscent way, first because it illustrates a thing that 
sometimes occure in real life, but more frequently 
in fiction, namely, that acquaintances occasionally 
come face to face under strange conditions and 
peculiar circumstances; and, secondly, because it 
shows that there was a singular state of affairs exist- 
ing when the slaves of one man, amid all the de- 
moralization, were subject to his will and did that 
which seemed like leaving freedom behind. I am not 
fully informed as to how the scheme worked, but 
have always understood that it turned out profitably 
to the projector. There was nothing wrong about it, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 95 

at least, from a Southern standpoint, but very many 
good people, even some descendants of slave-holders, 
are, at this day, squeamish about what they are 
pleased to term ''traffick in human flesh." 

It must not be concluded that the negroes spoken 
of were in that vicinity, for they were, at that very 
moment, under a prudent guide, safe within the 
Southern lines. 

It is not untimely to remark, right here, that the 
descendants of slave-holders will, possibly, have some 
difficulty in justifying them for consenting to the ex- 
istence of an institution, which existed in this coun- 
try more than two hundred years, but which has been 
condemned by the laws of every civilized country 
on the globe. This difficulty will arise chiefly from 
the fact that the true history concerning slavery, its 
existence in all the original States, its abolition by 
some, its retention by others and, above all, the 
motives controlling those who dealt with it, is not 
now, nor is likely to be, persistently taught in the 
family or school. It is one of those questions of which 
it may be said the further we get from it, the less 
we say or know about it. 

We went into camp at Baldwyn drenched by the 
continuous rains and fatigued by the exigences of an 
arduous service. The Federals had moved steadily 
southeast from Ripley, and were in close proximity 



96 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

to a part of our forces. Everything at Baldwyn gave 
evidence of an impending struggle. In the midst of 
the acute feeling in the minds of the soldiers, it was 
announced that three men had been tried by court- 
martial and condemned to be shot. This was a phase 
of war with which we Avere not familiar. The poor 
fellows, confined in a box car, gave forth the most 
pitiful wailings. The cries of one of the condemned, 
a mere stripling, were particularly distressing. The 
whole brigade was mustered to witness the execution. 
Guilty or not guilty, I somehow wished that these 
victims of their own acts would escape the impend- 
ing doom. Each man was placed by his grave and 
coffin. A file of eight men appeared with bristling 
guns. The suspense was terrible. Death on the bat- 
tle-field was nothing compared to that which we were 
to witness. The sentence of the court-martial was 
read. The boy was released and, still weeping, left 
the field. At the firm command of the officer in 
charge, the shots rang out and one man fell dead. The 
same thing was repeated and another went to his 
death. Though the justice of the court-martial was 
never questioned, there was a profound sensation 
among the soldiers, which it took a battle to shake 
off. 

Know ye, that the very next morning, June 10th, 
1864, we were galloping to Brice's Cross Roads. Act- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 97 

ing under the orders of Lee, Forrest was trying to 
keep his forces between the Federal vanguard and 
Tupelo, so as finally to turn upon them when a more 
open country was reached. To do this with dispatch, 
he must reach the cross roads, by a road leading 
southwest, ahead of the Federals, who were moving 
towards the same point by a road leading southeast. 
The Federal cavalry advance, moving rapidly, passed 
the point and even went some distance beyond in the 
direction of Guntown. When the Confederate ad- 
vance came up, the enemy was ready to block their 
way on the road from Baldwyn and had the advant- 
age of position. Johnson's Alabamians in advance 
fell upon them furiously while Rucker's Brigade was 
coming to the rescue. At this critical juncture, For- 
rest seems to have abandoned all intention of merely 
holding the enemy in check and deferring a battle 
to a more convenient season. He had his own little 
army well in hand, though it was having a hard time 
to reach the desired point promptly on account of the 
muddy roads. A man of wonderful military instinct 
and surpassing genius for war, he saw at a glance 
that, although the cavalry of Uie Federals, at that 
moment, held the advantage of position, their main 
body was strung along a narrow road, and their 
general would assuredly have trouble in protecting 
his left flank, crossing Tishomingo creek, and throw- 



98 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

ing his infantry and artillery into line of battle. It 
was indeed the psychological moment and the faith of 
the general spread to the men. Rucker was turned 
to the left and into the woods, where his men were 
quickly dismounted and gotten ready for battle. At 
the word they sprung over a fence and into a muddy 
cornfield. Will 1 ever forget it? The enemy posted 
in a dense wood and behind a heavy fence poured 
a galling fire into our ranks. It looked like death to 
go to the fence, but many of the men reached it. 
Four of Company E, were killed in this charge. Men 
could not stay there and live. The Seventh Tennes- 
see with Chalmers' Battalion on the left was driven 
back in confusion. With the steadiness of veterans, 
they re-formed for another onset. As I remember it, 
this time we went over the fence. Reinforcements 
were evidently at hand for the Federals, for on they 
came like a resistless tile. It was death not to giv;^. 
back. Another readjustment of lines, and we were at 
them again. I cannot now say how many times this 
was repeated, for men in the very presence of death 
take no note of time. The roar of artillery and the 
fusillade of small arms were deafening. Sheets of 
flame were along both lines v.hile dense clouds of 
smoke arose above the heavily wooded field. No 
language is adequate to paint the verities of the mo- 
ment. High tide of battle had come, and one side 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 99 

or the other must quail very soon. Which side should 
it be ? The answer came when apparently by common 
consnt both drew back just far enough for the inter- 
vening trees and dense undergrowth to obscure the 
vision. Our men still in line of battle lav on the 
ground for a much needed rest. 

Here we had a bountiful supply of water from the 
rills, which had been fed by the recent rains. I never 
tasted better. The cessation of battle was as grateful 
as the water, but there was intense anxiety to know 
the final result. An order to retire from the field 
would have brought no surprise. But Forrest and 
his brigade commanders were better informed. Mount- 
ed on his big sorrel horse, saber in hand, sleeves 
rolled up, his coat lying on the pouunel of his sad- 
dle, looking the very God of War, the General rode 
down our line as far as we could see him. I remem- 
ber his words, which I heard more than once: "Get 
up, men. I have ordered Bell to charge on the left. 
When you hear his guns, and the bugle sounds, every 
man must charge, and we will give them hell. ' ' That 
was enough. We heard Bell's guns and the bugle. 
Advancing over the dead bodies of Federals and Con- 
federates and regaining the ground lost in the last 
repulse, Rucker's Brigade in one grand last charg.^ 
moved to the assault of the enemy's position. Small 
bushes, cut off near the ground and falling in our 



100 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

front, meant that the Federals had been reinforced 
by veteran infantry and were firing low. So close 
were we now to their line and the fighting so nearly 
hand to hand that our navy sixies were used with 
deadly effect. The Federals bravely withstood our 
onslaught for a time, but soon gave way in confusion 
and broke to the rear. Rucker's men, greatly encour- 
aged, moved rapidly to the front and, with no regard 
for formation, came out into the open at the Dr. 
Agnew residence, which stands in the angle formed 
by the Guntown and Pontotoc roads. The men of 
the various commands, concentrating upon this point, 
became intermingled as they charged up to where 
all could see the grand scamper of the Federals run- 
ning down towards Tishomingo creek. Six pieces of 
their own artillery had been turned upon them and 
these were quickly reinforced by Morton's and 
Rice's batteries. These, double shotted with canister, 
added to the confusion of the entangled mass of in- 
fantry, cavalry, ambulances and wagons. The Fed- 
eral dead and wounded lay on every hand about the 
cross roads, showing the deadly aim of our men in 
the last charge, while our loss at this point was in- 
considerable, though the rain of bullets from the 
Federal line appeared sufficient to destroy the whole 
brigade. The negro brigade under Bouton came in 
for its full share of the calamity, the deluded crea- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 101 

tures, in many instances, having ceased their war cry 
of "Remember Fort Pillow," and throwing away 
their badges, took to the woods. 

When hundreds of our men had crossed the creek 
and conditions had become a little more quiet, they 
began to realize that they were very tired and very 
hungry. No time was lost in helping themselves to 
the subsistence in the abandoned wagons where there 
was an abundance for both man and horse. 

A reflection or two. General Forrest, in fighting 
this battle at his own discretion, had shown that he 
very well knew just when a commander, acting on 
the defensive-active, should fall upon an invading 
army. He had, not for the first time, particularly 
emphasized the fact that Southern cavalrymen, dis- 
mounted and well handled, could cope with trained 
infantry, and even put them to rout when fighting 
at odds of two to one against themselves. On this 
eventful day he had put into practice his favorite 
tactics, which had uniformly brought him success, 
that of launching his entire command, as soon as he 
could get it into action, against his adversary. For- 
rest's Cavalry never looked around for reserves, but 
confidently expected to do the work themselves and to 
do it quickly. Hence, at Price's Cross Roads they 
fought with the intrepidity of veteran infantry and 
exhibited the dash of the best type of Southern cav- 



102 NOTES OF A PRIVATE 

airy. In other words, they fought when Forrest said 
so, and every charge was like the first one in which 
they expected to break the lines of the enemy. The 
man behind the gun was in evidence at Tishomingo, 
and it was a glorious victory. May his tribe increase. 

A consideration of the comparative forces is inter- 
esting. According to information, v.diich is fairly 
authentic, Forrest had 3,200 men, including two four- 
gun batteries. Federal official report gives them 
3,300 cavalry and 5,400 infantry, or 8,700 men. In 
addition, they had, according to the best information, 
24 pieces of artillery and men to man them. Notice 
the respective losses. Forrest lost about 140 officers 
and men killed, and about 500 wounded and none 
taken prisoners. Sturgis lost, according to official 
report, 23 officers and 594 men killed and 52 officers 
and 1,571 men captured, or a total of 2,240 men. 
Forrest says he captured 1,571 men and 52 officers, 
an ordnance train with a large supply of fixed am- 
munition, ten days' rations for the whole Federal 
army, over two hundred wagons and parts of their 
teams, and large quantities of supplies, thirty ambu- 
lances and twenty-one caissons. Clearly then, we 
fought them at an odds of nearly three to one in their 
favor. 

Now, a few incidents of the battle. When riding 
to the battle-field that morning, and at a place where 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 103 

we were passing over a rough causeway ou which 
many a horse cast a shoe, Isaac H. Pipkin (Doc), 
riding by my side, remarked that if he should be 
killed that day, all he asked was to be put away 
decently. He was in the first charge, through the 
muddy cornfield. Imagine my feelings, when driven 
back in one of the repulses, I came upon his body still 
in death. Doc was a typical rustic, a good fellow 
in camp, a true coldier in action, a man you might 
lean on. The people of Bolivar have long ago graven 
his name in marble, Tom Boucher was a plain and 
unassuming citizen of the White ville neighborhood, 
who was always at his post, took life easy and never 
fretted. He died on the field. 

In the first charge, I noticed William C. Hardy, of 
Bolivar, handling his gun as if something was the 
matter with the lock. I never saw him again, for he 
never got to the second fence. Billy was a pupil 
of mine, a fiery young fellow and a perfectly reliable 
soldier. 

Another schoolboy of mine who fell in this first 
charge was Charles R. Neely of Bolivar. He was a 
boy of gentle birth and noble instincts. He was a 
loving friend, a soldier tried and true, who poured 
out his young life's blood upon the field. Could 
higher eulogy be spoken ? 

In connection with young Neely 's death I mention 



104 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

the faithful conduct of James F. Dunlap, his mess 
mate and true friend. As soon as practicable Dunlap 
placed the corpse of his young friend in their small 
mess wagon and carrying it through the country de- 
livered it to his mother in Bolivar, Tenn. This was 
an exhibition of fidelity hard to surpass. 

Suifering from an old wound, Captain Tate, early 
in the action turned over the command of the com- 
pany to Lieutenant J. P. Satler, with whom I had 
already agreed to remain through whatever might 
come to us that day. Thank heaven, we both came 
through unscathed. 

Do you remember where I left off the main narra- 
tive? It was at Tishomingo creek where we had 
halted to partake of the bountiful refreshments, which 
the Federals had rather unwillingly left in our hands. 
When the horse-holders brought forward our mounts, 
my little black seemed as glad to see me as I was to 
see him. I stripped him for a rubbing and a rest 
and gorged him on Federal forage. 

Instead of an undisturbed night of repose, as we 
had fondly hoped for, the Seventh Tennessee was 
aroused from its slumbers at 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing with the information that Forrest himself was to 
lead it in pursuit of the enemy. With Company E in 
front I, happening to be in the front file, could 
very well see everything that was likely to come up 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 105 

on this memorable advance. Much of our way was 
lighted up by wagons and other abandoned property 
burning. In one place the forewheel of a gun car- 
riage had been locked by a tree and this and several 
other handsome brass pieces in its rear had been 
abandoned. Many Federal soldiers, now thoroughly 
exhausted, were sleeping by the roadside, while 
others, armed and unarmed, willingly surrendered. 
They were invariably told to go to the rear. Further 
along, I counted ninety-five wagons laden with sup- 
plies strung along the narrow road. The wheels of 
some had been locked by trees and evidently aban- 
doned in hot haste by those who had ridden the teams 
away. I saw much of General Forrest that night, who 
was in great good humor in regard to the results of 
the previous day's battle. When approaching Ripley, 
early in the day, which town is about twenty miles 
from the battle-field, we were relieved by other troops 
going forward to press the enemy, who were making 
a stand just north of the town. Buford and Bell were 
there, and we knew what that meant. 

We rode leisurely through the town and to the out- 
skirts. A battle was going on, but the enemy was 
believed to be retreating. The command to form fours 
and prepare to charge was given. Company E, in 
front was soon going at a lively pace and it soon be- 
came a question of speed as to who should reach the 



106 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

enemy first. My little black horse responded in fine 
style. At a flying gallop we went straight up the 
road and, though hearing guns on every hand, could 
see no enemy to charge. Instantly we saw in the 
woods to our left a whole regiment of Federal cav- 
alry aiming to reach the road at an angle and speed 
that would throw them into it just ahead of us. Over 
the hill they went as fast as their horses would carry 
them. Tom Nelson of Company L, coming up, he and 
I found ourselves in uncomfortable proximity to 
the enemy, for as we too went over the hill, there 
they were with their rear huddled together in the val- 
ley with something, apparently, blocking their front. 
Nelson and I had not intended to fight a whole regi- 
ment, but we shot out everything we had at them. 
Pressing towards the front and turning in their sad- 
dles, as they went up the hill, they gave us a few 
shots from their carbines which, I remember well, 
they held in one hand. At a cooler moment, I in- 
quired with some interest how it was that such a thing 
as I have related could happen. No one attempted 
an explanation. Nelson and I were present in the 
flesh and had occasion to remember well all that took 
place, though events were passing with lightning 
celerity. Perhaps, perchance and be, it was a case of 
horseflesh. It was the Third Iowa Cavalry we were 
charging. Colonel C. A. Stanton, not so very long 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 107 

ago a citizen of Memphis, was an officer in this regi- 
ment and has a clear recollection of the incident. I 
was somewhat surprised a few years ago when Billy 
Elkins, a member of Company E, reminded me of 
the occasion and rehearsed what took place about as 
I remember it myself. 

The regiment came up in much less time than it 
has taken me to tell it, and advanced to the top of the 
hill where there was firing by some Federals posted 
in an old house and a plum orchard. At this mo- 
ment, Captain William J. Tate of Company E, who 
sick and suffering was forced to go to the rear the 
previous day, came up w:th the company in pursuit. 
Standing for a moment in a protected position, I 
reminded Tate that if he forced his horse to mount 
an embankment by the roadside, he would be a fair 
target for bullets, they flying thick about us. He dis- 
regarded my admonition, mounted the embankment 
and rode forward for a better view. I quickly 
changed my position, as many others had come for- 
ward. Very soon I saw Tate supported by two men 
who were taking him to a less exposed place. He 
was asking some one to catch his horse, which was 
moving off towards the enemy. At this moment 
Tommy Elcan, of Company B, standing by my side, 
was struck in the head by a minie ball and fell from 

his horse dead. The gallant Lieutenant-Colonel A. 
8 



108 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

H. Chalmers came riding forward and asked about 
the position of the enemy. He advanced down the 
hill at the head of his battalion, but soon returned 
afoot. His fine brown rnare had been killed. A word 
more concerning Captain Tate. It appears that 
smarting under an absence enforced by a threatened 
attack of erysipelas in an old wound, this gallant 
gentleman had concluded that he could not forego 
the pleasure of seeing the Federal army in full 
retreat and his own regiment participating in the 
pursuit. Mounting Billy Hardy's white horse he rode 
to the front at a gallop. Joining the regiment in 
time for the charge, he had his horse almost instant- 
ly shot under him. Determined to go forward he 
mounted James E. Wood's horse, which was kindly 
offered, and appeared on the firing line, as I have 
related. He was a young man of gentle demeanor 
from the mountains of North Carolina, who shortly 
before the war had engaged in farming near Bolivar. 
He affected few of the refinements of cultivated so- 
ciety, but was a young countryman of courage, who 
made friends and kept them. AYlien we were organ- 
izing a company, he attended the m.eetings and showed 
an aptitude for learning and teaching the cavalry 
drill. Never did a man more effectually advance him- 
self in the confidence of a company than he did by 
perfectly fair dealing and sheer force of character. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 109 

Serving as fourth sergeant tlic first yeai-, he devel- 
oped rapidly as a drill master and officer. Physically, 
Captain Tate was a man of medium weight and eree^ 
and v^-ell knit frame. He was a pronounced blonde 
with clear blue eyes and very light hair. Active on 
foot and tireless when there was stress of work, he 
always seemed most at home on horseback. The man- 
ner of his death was, perhaps, such as he would have 
desired it to be, had he known it was to come so soon. 
AYhen I heard that he had succumbed to his wounds. 
I hastened to give him decent burial in the cemetery 
at Ripley, Miss. He sleeps among the people in whose 
defense he died. 

Forty-four years have come and gone since the 
scenes of whiah I write passed before the vision, but 
they were so indelibly impressed upon the tablet of 

the memory that it is easy to recall them. The slight- 
est incident often recalls the fiercest battle scene, and 
for the moment I live in the past. I am recording 
events while there are yet living witnesses to bear me 
out. As such I mention with pleasure the names of 
Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Taylor, who always bore 
himself proudly on the field ; A. H. D. Perkins, whom 
I have seen flaunt the colors of the regiment in the 
faces of the enemy, and Captain H. A. Tyler, who 
with his squadron of two small companies gallantly 
bore the brunt of battle on the extreme left at Tisho- 
mingo, and was ready \Yith his Kentuekians to join in 
the pursuit of the broken battalions of the enemy. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



HARRISBURG. 



That the great victory at Brice's Cross Roads had 
revived the spirits and brightened the hopes of For- 
rest 's men there could be no doubt. Flushed with vic- 
tory, they believed that what had been done on th-.- 
10th of June could be done again. In a word, they 
concluded that Forrest now knew better how to de- 
feat a superior force than ever before. Their conti- 
dence was so implicit that, even if conditions should 
not improve in other parts of the Confederacy, Forrest 
would continue to defeat superior forces whenever 
he went against them. It is well to make a note of 
this sentiment, for it served somewhat to explain ihi 
seemingly reckless bravery of the men in the next 
battle. 

When we settled down to camp life at Aberdeen 
and Verona, I could but notice the smallness of the 
companies, and when on the march the regiment did 
not string out as it formerly did. This was signifi- 
cant. Here again was food for thought. Though one 
man could not do the work of two, preparations for 
another battle went forward. We were stirred by the 
reports brought in as to the strength of the next army 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. m 

that would meet us. It was said to be at Ripley and 
coming: towards Pontotoc. Their objective point was 
Okolona and points further south, if practicable. 
Stephen D. Lee and Forrest occupied a strong natural 
position south of Pontotoc, and set about strengthen- 
ing it. It was thought that General A. J. Smith, con- 
fident of his ability to envelope the Confederates, 
would assail the position in force. He had acquired 
a reputation as a tactician and fighter on other fields. 
Finding that the road to Okolona was blocked he 
withdrew from the Confederate front, and moving 
by the left flank took the road to Tupelo. A tacti- 
cian thoroughly acquainted with the topography of 
the country could not have made a more judicious 
move, or taken more proper steps to select his own 
position for battle, and thus have his adversary as- 
sail him on his own ground, or not at all, while he 
was so posted. The quick eye of Forrest having de- 
tected, in a personal reconnoissance, the movement 
made, he made such disposition of his own forces that 
he could attack the enemy in the rear and on their 
right flank. 

General Smith and General Forrest had approxi- 
mately and respectively 14,000 and 10,000 men of all 
arms. Smith kept his army in such compact column 
movement and so well protected by guards and flank- 
ers that Forrest had strenuous work in trying to break 



112 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

into it. The Federals were always ready. This man- 
ner of fighting was kept up for about fourteen miles 
and under a July sun. Men and horses suffered 
greatlly for want of water. Each side lost heavily. 
The Confederates confidently expected that victory 
would come to them much as it did in their last great 
contest. Therefore they fought desperately. The 
Federals adhering strictly to the tactics laid down by 
their General declined a general engagement till they 
could reach a strong natural position. In this re- 
spect, Smith acted just as if he knew exactly where 
he would find an advantageous position in which to 
deliver battle. And this he found at Harrisburg, a 
deserted village, which had been absorbed by Tupelo, 
when the railroad was built. They literally tore up 
the town by tearing down the houses and using the 
lumber lor breast-works. They brought into requi- 
sition every conceivable solid object they could find 
and, in many places, threw on dirt. They had ample 
time during the night to make proper dispositions of 
their troops, so as to be ready for an assault. The 
Federal line was about a mile and a half in length, 
and much in the form of a semicircle. Their twenty- 
four pieces of artillery were advantageously placed 
and there was a cavalry brigade on each flank. Their 
improvised works were garnished with a heavy line 
of infantry. Certainly the morale of the whole army 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 113 

must have been perfect because of its skillful handling 
and its success in repulsing the Confederates several 
times the previous day. 

But what of the Southern soldiers, who were to 
be sent against this formidable array on this mem- 
orable morning of the 14th of July, 1864? Having 
bivouacked in the vicinity they were in line at 7 
o'clock. General Forrest, at great risk and with a 
single individual, that gallant gentleman, Sam Don- 
elson of his staff, having made a careful reconnois- 
sance during the night, was advising with General 
Lee, who was now in chief command. That these two 
parties, distinguished in war, capable in command 
and trusted by their country, felt a heavy weight of 
responsibility is unquestionable. No element of 
seliishuess v."as involved in this conference of tvv'O 
men who held in their hands the fate of thousands. 
They expected to share that day the dangers on the 
firing line, as was their habit, and therefore might 
very soon be in the presence of their IMaker. Lee 
generously offered to waive his rank and tender the 
command for the day to Forrest. This the latter de- 
clined, giving as his chief reason the condition of his 
health. Neither was a man to shirk a responsibility. 
Lee said that they would move on the enemy's lines 
at once. That Forrest did not acquiesce in this de- 
termination of Lee, though consenting to lead the 



114 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

right wing in the fight, I am prepared to believe from 
an incident that occurred the following day and of 
which I will write further along. Lee urged in sup- 
port of his position the threatening attitude of the 
Federals at Mobile, Vicksburg and in North Alabama. 
Forrest knew that, after deducting horse-holders and 
other details incident to a battle, the effective fighting 
force of the Confederates did not exceed seven thous- 
and five hundred men, the casualties of battle and the 
large number of men rendered unfit for duty by the 
excessive heat the previous day being considered in 
the estimate. The Confederates must move to the as- 
sault on the right and center through an open space 
of two hundred yards or more and on their left for 
fully a mile through an open old field. In the for- 
mation, Roddy's Alabamians, led by Forrest, held 
the right; Buford's Kentuekians and Tennesseeans, 
the center, and J\labry's Mississippians the left, with 
the four batteries of artillery properly placed. From 
the moment the signal gun was heard the fighting was 
fast and furious, the officers and men struggling to 
reach the works notwithstanding the withering fire 
from the protected Federals. Rucker's Brigade of 
Chalmers' division, which had been held in reserve 
only for a short while, was ordered to the support of 
Mabry's Brigade, which, though fighting to the death, 
was sorely pressed. This movement was on foot, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 115 

through the open field and facing a broiling sun. 
This proud little brigade, composed of the Seventh 
Tennessee, Duff's Regiment and A. H. Chalmers' 
Battalion, rushed to its work with the rebel yell, and 
was soon intermingled with Mabry's men near the 
Federal works. Rucker's men, as did others, unmind- 
ful of their already depleted ranks and seemingly re- 
gardless of the issues of life and death, fought as if 
they expected some supreme moment was near when 
they would repeat the work of Brice's Cross Roads. 
Rueker himself, when within fifty yards of the works, 
was wounded twice and carried from the field. Cap- 
tain Statler, of Company E and three of his men 
were killed here and others wounded. The ground at 
this point was covered with the dead and wounded 
while the living wera famished because of the in- 
tense heat and the lack of water. Human endurance 
had reached a limit. The Confederates, leaving their 
dead and wounded on the field, retreated with no at- 
tention to order. To save individual life was now all 
that could be expected of the living. 

The battle had been lost, but not for the lack of 
courage, devotion to duty or gallant leadership. Both 
sides can't win, but it is interesting, even at th:s dis- 
tant day, especially to old soldiers, to consider the 
reasons of our defeat. A careful review of the cam- 
paign is fairly convincing that Forrest with the whole 



116 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

army, perhaps with less, could have defeated Smith 
en the hills just south of Pontotoc and, may be, would 
have turnej. the defeat into the usual Federal dis- 
aster. A like result might have been brought about 
anywhere on the road to Harrisburg, if Smith had 
turned upon Forrest for a pitched battle in the open 
field. But Smith, as I have heretofore shown, de- 
clined all offers of battle except such little engage- 
ments as were essential to protect his rear and right 
flank. He moved rapidly and in close order till he 
reached a choice natural position. 

The great disparity of forces in actual battle, the 
fortified position of the enemy, the intense heat in 
a rapid charge and the long distance through an open 
field were all elements in the defeat of the Confed- 
erates. If, as some writers assert, our army was 
fought too much in detail, of which I know nothing, 
that of itself would have contributed to our defeat. 
Judging Forrest by his former and subsequent per- 
formances, it is safe to say that, if he had been in 
chief command and had concluded to make an as- 
sault at all, which is doubtful, he would have had 
every available man in the charge and made the work 
short, sharp and decisive. 

But why assault at all? Here Avas an army in a 
strong position for defense, it is true, but in the besl 
possible position to be held by an opposing force till 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 117 

starvation threatened. It was over a hundred miles 
from Memphis and in an enemy's country, which 
had been devastated by two other raids. It was reas- 
onable to suppose that this army, so far from its 
base, was running short of rations. It had expected 
to live off the rich country just below, which it never 
reached. Nothing demoralizes an army more than a 
prospect of impending hunger. Then why not wait 
one day or two days or a little longer, even in the 
face of threatening movements of the Federals at 
Mobile and other points? It is in the histories that 
they did not make any such move just then. Again, 
our commissary at Okolona, twenty miles distant, was 
furnishing us with supplies by wagon train. AVithin 
two days our army would have been in fine condition 
to pursue a hungry army in retreat. It is shown in 
General Smith's official report that he had only one 
day "s rations v>-hen he left Tupelo, just as might have 
reasonably been expected. He a.landoned his position 
ai'teen hours after the repulse oC the Confederates. 
He moved on the retreat much as he had on the march 
from Pontotoc to Harrisburg. Lee and Forrest hav- 
ing gathered up their shattered remnants attacked 
him at Old Town creek, where he made a stubborn re- 
sistance but only till his troops and trains could gel 
well on the road. Clearly our men were in no con- 
dition to make anything more than a spiritless pur- 
suit. 



118 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

It is hardly worth while to speculate as to what 
would have been the result, if Smith had pressed 
his advantage, when he had driven the Confederates 
from his front. Undoubtedly it would have resulted 
disastriously to the Confederates. If he made a tac- 
tical error in the whole campaign, it was in this re- 
gard. True, he did not reach his objective, but 
neither did Sooy Smith and Sturgis. He saved his 
army intact, all of his artillery, and most of his 
wagons. The comparison is easily drawn. Having 
experienced the soothing influences of forty-four 
years, we can be just, liberal and fair. Then, A. J. 
Smith was a capable commander, and in the Harris- 
burg campaign did not lessen the prestige acquired on 
other fields. 

As soon as the Federals abandoned their position 
and it had been occupied by the Confederates, I took 
advantage of the movement and hastened to the spot 
occupied by Company E, the previous day. The 
ground was literally strewn with the bodies of our 
precious slain, which had been lying where they fell 
for twenty-four hours. It was impossible to identify 
them except by their clothing and other articles. 
Captain J. P. Statler, "William Wood, Jehu Field and 
David McKinney, another schoolboy of mine, must 
have been killed about the same time, as their bodies 
lay close together. First Wood, then Statler a few 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 119 

feet in advance and a still shorter space forward 
Field and .McKinney at the foot of a post-oak that 
did not protect them from the enfilading fire of the 
enemy. In this group was Colonel Isham Harrison 
of the Sixth Mississippi with many of his own dead 
men about him. It was a most sorrowful sight to see 
Statler and his men wrapped in their blankets and 
biu'ied where they fell. They appropriately sleep on 
the field of honor. The earth lay fresh on the grave 
of Captain Tate when Captain Statler was killed. 
Besides the four named, Robert D. Durrett of Boli- 
var, and Sam Gibson were mortally wounded earlier 
in the action and carried to the rear. Company E 
could ill afford to lose the men who fell at Harris- 
burg. Statler had shown himself to be a worthy suc- 
cessor to Tate. He Avas a faithful friend, a dashing 
gallant soldier and a fine horseman. I yet hold dear 
the friendship knitted closely by our association at 
Brice's Cross Roads and on other fields. 

In riding over the field at the time of which I write 
I heard of the deaths of others whom I knew. Among 
these was that of that fine young soldier, Tom Nelson 
of Company L, of whom I have had occasion to speak 
in connection with an incident at Ripley. Killed 
on the 13th at Barrow's shop. 

I found the breastworks of the Federals all that I 
have heretofore described. That part in front of 



120 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

which Company E fought was built like a Virginia 
worm fence, but with heavy house logs and other 
v/eighty objects. Thus their fire was enfiladiug upon 
all points in their front. The few trees standing 
there afforded little protection to our men. A grape 
shot and twenty-one minie balls struck the tree at the 
foot of which Field and McKinney lay dead. 

I passed over to where the Kentuckians had fought 
under Crossland. Oh, the ghastly dead, and so many 
of them! Lieutenant-Colonel Sherrill of the Seventh 
Kentucky, killed near the works, was among them. 
The officer in charge of the burial squad quoted the 
lines : 

I\Ian's inhumanity to man 

Makes countless thousands mourn. 

I agreed with him. This was near the old Harris- 
burg church. I rode down the slope with others and 
stopped by the roadside. Along came General For- 
rest, wounded and riding in an open buggy. Just 
from the battle-field and suffering Avith a wound, he 
was somewhat excited. I remember well the senti- 
ment he uttered. It was that expressed by the 
words : ' ' Boys, this is not my fight, and I take no re- 
sponsibility for it," or words tantamount to these. 
I knew what he meant. 

Now, I had knov/n General Forrest for thirteen 
years. Why, the first creosote I ever saw he put into 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 121 

au aching tooth of mine, when on one of his trading 
expeditions he was camping in front of my father's 
house on the road from Grenada to Greensboro. Ho 
was a man to impress even a stripling, as I was 
then. I should have carried his image in my mind 
to this day even if there had never been a war. A 
stalwart, v.ho liabitually went in his shirt sleeves. A 
man of commanding, but pleasing personality, with 
grayish-blue eyes who spoke kindly to children. A 
broad felt hat, turned up at the sides and surmount- 
ing a shock of black hair about completes the picture. 
I contrast this with this same figure, clothed in the 
resplendent uniform of a major-general, mounted on 
King Philip, at the head of his escort and with hat 
in hand in recognition of the plaudits extended, with 
hearty good vrill, by the people of Florence, Ala. 

I insert here two extracts from the utterances of 
Lieutenant-Colonel David C. Kelley, at once tho 
"Fighting Parson" and the Marshal Ney of Forrest's 
Cavalry, but in peace the eminent citizen and elo- 
quent divine: "Everj' individual private was trained 
to an unbounded belief in Forrest's power to suc- 
ceed." 

"The practical suggestions of the natural ^varrior 
were the safeguard of Hood's army." 

Forrest's last words: "/ trust not in what I have 
done, hut in the Captain of my salvation." 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE MEMPHIS RAID. 



The rest of the month of July, 1864, was spent 
by the Confederates in the rich prairie country below 
Okolona. About Gunn's church we found the fields 
full of green corn, some in the roasting ear and much 
of it in that state of maturity when it is best to make 
jaded horses thrifty. Watermelons were cheap and 
abundant. There was no talk of scant rations. The 
farmers had been raising corn and hogs for war 
times. These conditions wonderfully revived the 
spirits of the men. Cornbread now and no biscuit. 
Plenty of greasy bacon and some with a streak of 
lean and a streak of fat. This held on a sharp stick 
and over the tire, and with the gravy dripping on 
the bread, was something good to look at. Some man- 
aged to always have a little sugar and coffee which 
they had secured with other captured spoils. As a 
rule, Confederate soldiers did not tolerate rye or 
other substitutes for coffee. They wanted the "pure 
stuff"' or nothing. The weather was warm, and sleep- 
ing in the open air was refreshing. Company E had 
not stretched a tent for more than a year. Occasiou- 
ally quartered in unoccupied houses, the men were 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 123 

generally protected against the elements by ruclc 
structures of such material as was at hand, but mostly 
by captured rubber cloths, stretched over a pole 
resting in two forks stuck in the ground. If only 
one was to be accommodated, a convenient sapling 
was bent down till it assumed the shape of a bow 
and its top secured to the ground. Then the rubber 
cloth was stretched over this so that a soldier could 
crawl under. In both cases, the shelter was called a 
"shebang." A good rest and full stomachs went 
far towards getting those of us who had been spared 
ready for the next campaign. We left the goodly 
land where "if vou will tickle the soil with a hoe, it 
will laugh with a harvest." We went to Oxford to 
meet our late antagonist. General A. J. Smith, who 
was moving south with another fine army. Forrest 
Avith a greatly reduced force was compelled to meet 
hiin. It might be remembered as the wet Augu.«t, for 
it rained almost incessantly. It would require every 
available man now. We stretched out our thin line 
along Hurricane creek, six miles north of Oxford. 
The Federals were crossing the Tallahatchie at Abbe- 
ville a few miles north of our position. .Skirmishing 
began at once with the advance of the superior force 
of the Federals. By the 10th of August, 1864, For- 
rest had all his forces in line except Buford's divis- 
ion, which was posted at Pontotoc to watch any move- 



124 NOTES OF A PRHMTE. 

ment east bv the Federals. Before the main body of 
the Confederates arrived Smith had driven Chalmers ' 
division to the south side of the Yokona, several miles 
below Oxford. On the approach of reinforcements 
the Federals fell back across Hurricane creek to their 
former position. The heavy rains continued to fall 
and added greatly to the discomforts of our men. It 
"was impossible to keep even moderately dry under 
the best ''shebangs" that could be constructed, be- 
cause the ground was saturated. AVe continued to 
strengthen oui- works with such poor material as we 
could get. At best, they would have given us poor 
protection in case of attack. 

Rucker's Brigade was now a thing of the past and 
the Seventh Tennessee was attached to Richardson's 
Brigade, commanded by Colonel J. J. Xeely. At his 
instance I had been temporarily detailed to attend to 
some clerical and other work in the ordnance depart- 
ment. For the time being I stopped at the quarters 
of Lieutenant-Colonel White, commanding the Four- 
teenth Tennessee, where we spent most of the time 
in trying to keep dry. Rations were in plent}', but 
we could scarcely get dry wood enough to cook them. 
Much of our ammunition was ruined and in our 
skirmishes many of the cartridges would not explode. 
All efforts to induce the Federals to cross to our side 
of the shallow creek failed, though our men frequent- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 125 

ly crossed to their side and, having engaged their 
advance, fell back hurriedly with the design of draw- 
ing them into a disadvantageous place. Colonel Xeely 
one day, between showers, concluded to make an effort 
to lead the Federal cavalry into a well planned am- 
buscade by offering them superior inducements. The 
Fourteenth Regiment under White was ordered to 
cross the creek, dismount and get in a well-chosen 
place in the thick bushes and parallel with the road. 
A detachment of Xeely 's escort, with which I crossed 
over, was to ride forward, engage the Federal ad- 
vance briskly, and retreat in some confusion. The 
enemy took the bait and came on at a canter. 
Luckily for them, their flankers struck the right of 
the dismounted regiment and gave the alarm. How- 
ever, part of their pursuing force came up to where 
the escort was posted. The dense growth of timber 
on this spot so obscured the view that the Federal 
cavalry soon found themselves face to face with, and 
in short range of. our reserve and those who had ral- 
lied. It was a most exciting contest for only a min- 
ute or two, and chiefly with pistols, on our side, but 
both parties seemed to have lost the knack of hitting 
anything, for I saw no dead or wounded, though we 
quickly drove the enemy upon their reserve and kept 
up a spirited gunplay until it was our time to faU 
back. Evervbodv realized the inabilitv of the Con- 



126 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

federates to cope with the greatly superior force of 
the Federals, and we were liable to be driven from our 
position by a heavy flank movement at any time. A 
knowledge of this, of course, was possessed by the 
rank and file, and the suspense concerning coming 
results was great. In the midst of our anxiety. Colo- 
nel White received orders to prepare rations for an 
expedition. That something radical was on the tapis 
was evident. Only picked men and horses were 
wanted. It got abroad in camp that we were going 
to Memphis. That looked radical, but pleased us. 
There was a weeding out of sick men, sore back and 
lame horses. The camp took on new life. As the 
duties of my special assignment were about dis- 
charged, I could have asked to be relieved and to be 
returned to my own company, which was not under 
orders, but I preferred to take part in whatever ex- 
citement was in store for us, so I said nothing and 
went to Memphis with Colonel White. We left camp 
on the night of the 18th of August, 1864, in a down- 
pour and in darkness so great that we could scarcely 
see the road. I had hard work that night with the 
help of a small detachment in having a quantity of 
cornbread baked by the good women along our way, 
keeping it dry, and promptly joining the regiment 
next morning on the road to Panola. At this old town 
there was a short delay to get the column well up, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 127 

and to have another culling of disabled men and 
horses, for the night march had been a severe one 
on both man and beast. Having crossed the Talla- 
hatchie, we turned our faces toward Memphis. The 
sun was now shining, and everybody was in jolly, good 
spirits. Our clothing was drying rapidly by evapora- 
tion. Reaching Senatobia, twenty-three miles from 
Panola, we rested till next morning. In the mean- 
time, a competent detail was building a bridge over 
the Hickahala, a creek just north of the town, and 
swollen by the heavy rains. And such a bridge ! An 
old flatboat placed in midstream for a central pon- 
toon, and strengthened by floats made of dry cedar 
telegraph poles, which were bound together by grape- 
vines, constituted the body of the structure. Other 
poles were used as beams to piece out the bridge, and 
over the whole was laid a floor of planks brought by 
hand from the ginhouses in the neighborhood. 
Finally, a twisted cable of grapevines was placed on 
the side down stream, and lashed to trees on either 
bank. The men dismounted and led their horses over 
in column of twos. The two pieces of artillery with 
their caissons were wheeled across by hand. At Cold- 
water river, seven miles further north, a longer bridge 
was required. The men assigned to the work of build- 
ing one were not long in completing it, and the com- 
mand crossed over as they did over the first bridge. 



128 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

Twice that morning I was reminded of the aphorism 
that "necessity is the mother of invention." 

At the Coldwater bridge there was a wagon heavily- 
loaded with corn in the shuck, which was thought to 
be too heavy for the bridge. General Forrest ordered 
the corn thrown out and the wagon and corn carried 
over by hand. He was the first man to carry an arm- 
ful across. There was hardly need of his setting the 
example for the men, for everybody was for leaving 
nothing undone that would hasten the expedition to 
a glorious conclusion. I never saw a command look 
more like it was out for a holiday. At Hernando we 
were twenty-five miles from our objective. From 
there on we had no rain, the road was better, and we 
moved along at a pace like that of Van Dorn, when 
on his way to Holly Springs. We were fondly ex- 
pecting to write ditto under his performance, but in 
much larger letters, the very next morning. Forrest 
left Oxford with about fifteen hundred men, and 
every one of them thought that, if he "sought the 
bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth," he would 
likely draw a prize package into the bargain. The 
latter might be in the shape of a pair of boots or a 
horse, a suit of clothes or a small quantity of "store 
coffee. ' ' A buttermilk and soda biscuit would not be 
"turned down," if we took the town. Hilarity was 
hilarious, and that's the truth about it, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 129 

To water and to rest the horses a little were im- 
perative. Every man carried a small quantity of 
shelled corn. The utmost quiet was now insisted 
upon. When within a lew miles of the city Forrest 
had a consultation with his field officers, and these 
with their company officers, who gave quiet and ex- 
plicit' instructions to the men. The most drastic order 
was that if any officer or soldier saw one plundering 
he should shoot him on the spot. The different regi- 
ments were assigned to particular duties in certain 
localities in the city. More information was imparted 
to subordinate officers and private soldiers than is 
usual on such occasions. I think that it was intended 
that every man in the command should, as nearly as 
possible, understand just what his own regiment was 
to do in taking the city. Everybody about the head 
of the Fourteenth Tennessee understood that Captain 
Bill Forrest and his company would surprise and cap- 
ture the vidette and outpost. While we believed that 
General Forrest was acting upon reliable information 
from spies and scouts as to the situation of affairs in 
Memphis, we knew that there was always a chance 
for an enemy to be fully informed. In that case, we 
did not know but that deadly ambuscades would be 
set for us. As we moved at a walk, the report of a 
single gun was heard. It was likely that some poor 



130 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

fellow had gone to his death. Day was breaking, but 
there was a dense fog. The column, moving by fours, 
struck a lively pace. The Fourteenth Regiment, turn- 
ing into Mississippi avenue at Kerr soon plunged into 
a mudhole, which, in the dim light, looked inter- 
minable. Another command ahead of us was strug- 
gling to get through it. The men in the rear crowded 
upon those retarded in front, and the confusion was 
likely to defeat the whole plan of attack, which was 
to be executed promptly and rapidly. It added to 
the excitement that Captain Forrest's company, push- 
ing on into the city, had encountered a Federal bat- 
teiy near Trigg avenue, and we could hear the firing. 
The delay was unfortunate, but we soon got upon 
firmer ground. The men, by this time, had broken 
into a shout. As the Fourteenth Regiment was one 
of those designated for that purpose. Colonel White 
quickly dashed into the large Federal encampment 
to the right, and in a large grove, a part of which 
is yet standing. The tents stood in long white rows, 
but their occupants, recovering somewhat from their 
surprise, had rallied a little further north, and were 
delivering a brisk fire in the darkness, caused by the 
fog, but to very little purpose. In large, bold letters, 
I could see on the tents inscribed the words "One 
Hundred and Thirty-seventh Illinois Infantiy." 
The smoke from the guns of both sides intensified the 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 131 

foggy darkness. As we pushed through the encamp- 
ment, I espied a man lying in one of the bunks with 
which the tents were supplied. The poor fellow had 
been left alone and sick. I advised him to lie still, 
as I did not care to see a non-resistant increase his 
chances of death by rising up. A splendid pair of 
army shoes was sitting on a shelf in front of a tent. 
Somehow, in the excitement, I reached down for the 
shoes and tied them to my saddle. I thought of the 
strict orders given in regard to appropriating any- 
thing prematurely, but I was practically barefoot. 
The shoes were new and a perfect fit. They supplied 
the place of the boots secured at Union City, and were 
good shoes at the surrender. I was fully repaid for 
my part in the raid. 

Forrest's movement on Memphis was now a suc- 
cess or a failure, for we understood that in a surprise 
orders were to be executed rapidly. 

Colonel Neely, with the Fourteenth Tennessee, Sec- 
ond Missouri, and Chalmers' Battalion, drove the in- 
fantry force in his front rapidly back to a position 
about the State Female College, in and around which 
there was some stubborn fighting. The Confederate 
loss here was light. 

As we were all anxious to hear what our men in 
the city had done, I rode to the intersection of Mis- 
sissippi avenue and McLemore to seek information. 



132 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

This was scant, but to the effect that our men were 
carrying everything before them; in fact, that For- 
rest had complete possession of the city, notwith- 
standing the Federals had an effective force of five 
thousand men of all arms, including that part of it 
fighting around the college. The fog had lifted, and 
we were having a bright day. By 9 o 'clock the object 
of the raid had been fairly accomplished, and the 
Confederates in the city began to come out in dis- 
organized squads. Two of our men were reported 
killed on Main street. A son of Dr. J. S. Robinson, 
of Whiteville, was killed in the fight about the col- 
lege. As the superior Federal force rapidly recov- 
ered from its surprise, it became dangerous for those 
who had lingered to depart from the city. At one 
point, Forrest himself, with the Second Missouri, at- 
tacked an advancing Federal detachment of cavalry, 
and with his own hands killed Colonel Starr, a Fed- 
eral officer. It only remained to secure the spoils 
which had been gathered up and a large number of 
horses besides about six hundred prisoners. If, as 
a result of the raid, a retrograde movement of Smith 's 
army at Oxford was at hand, it could be written down 
as a big success, for that was its main purpose. It 
is true that Forrest had planned to capture the three 
Federal Generals, who escaped the clutches of the 
Confederates by the merest chance. In connection 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 133 

with what our men did really accomplish, I have heard 
some interesting stories, but I have always regarded 
these as largely fanciful. Many believe to this day 
that Forrest, booted and spurred, rode into the Gayoso 
Hotel, but in his lifetime he never lent encouragement 
to this belief. However, it is authentically stated that 
Captain Forrest, with some of his company, did what 
has been attributed to his brother, the General. I 
have it from a reliable witness that the Captain did 
kill a Federal officer, who did not promptly realize 
that he had fallen into the hands of his enemies. 
I remark that this account is not intended to be a 
history of all things that transpired on that memora- 
ble morning of August 21, 1864, but rather a remin- 
iscence of those things that fell under my personal 
observation, or of which I had authentic information 
on the spot. 

We retired at our leisure to Mississippi, where news 
soon reached us that the Federals had driven Chal- 
mers, with his inferior force, to the south side of the 
Yokona, and were committing depredations in and 
around Oxford. They had burnt the courthouse and 
many other buildings, including the fine residence of 
Jacob Thompson, with its hundred thousand dollars 
worth of furnishings. It was said, and it turned out 
to be true, that Mrs. Thompson was robbed of such 
valuable articles as she could hastily carry out. In 



134 NOTES OF A PRIVATE 

giving his men such license, General Edward Hatch 
had revealed his true character as a man. He had 
won renown on the battle-field, and shown himself 
to be an able commander and skillful tactician, but 
had disgraced himself in the eyes of all advocates 
of civilized warfare. 

Just as Forrest had anticipated, the Federals be- 
gan to fall back from Oxford, as soon as their com- 
mander heard the news from Memphis. General 
James R. Chalmers was entitled to great praise for 
the skillful manner in which he had handled his 
troops and concealed from the enemy the absence of 
Forrest. He held a position that required tact, dis- 
cretion and courage, and met the expectations of his 
chief. I remember him well, and can recall his char- 
acter as that of a man who, as occasion required, could 
move an audience by his eloquence, charm the fas- 
tidious with his felicity of diction, and gallantly lead 
his men in battle. Personally, ' ' Little Bun ' ' was pop- 
ular with the rank and file, as he was one of the 
most approachable of men. Scrupulously uniformed 
and finely mounted, he presented an attractive figure 
on review. A man of literary taste, he sometimes 
courted the muses. He was the reputed author of 
some words I heard sung in war times to the air of 
Bonnie Doone. These words might well be brought 
to light again and take their place in popular esteem 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 135 

by the side of "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag." 
Perhaps some one of those who used to be called "the 
pretty girls of Bolivar, ' ' but who, alas, are now wear- 
ing frosted crowns, could find in their old portfolios 
the words which might serve to keep green the mem- 
ory of a gallant Confederate. 

To rest in shady groves, to sleep by lulling waters, 
to hear the song of birds, the hum of bees, the tinkling 
bells of lowing kine, bring more pleasing thoughts to 
mind than those of war and deadly strife. To things 
like these we turned after the Memphis raid, but not 
for long. The people praised the deeds of Forrest's 
Cavalry, the marvel of horseback fighting, and the 
worthy rival of trained infantry, but the soldiers* 
paeans of victory always had a minor note of sorrow 
for our desolate land, the tears of our widows and 
orphans, and our increasing casualties in battle. Our 
poor fellows were falling, and our line becoming 
shorter, as the living pressed their shoulders together. 

We camped on the Yokona, at Oakland and Gre- 
nada, and I returned to Company E. 



CHAPTER X. 



INCIDENTS OF THE MIDDLE TENNES- 
SEE RAID. 



An entire reorganization of Forrest's Cavalry 
Corps was effected just after the IMemphis raid, by 
which a new brigade, composed exclusively of Ten- 
nesseeans, was formed for Colonel Rucker, who was 
absent on account of a wound received at Harris- 
burg. The regiments in this were the Seventh, 
Twelfth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth and Forrest's old regi- 
ment, commanded respectively by Duckworth, 
Green, Neely, Stewart and Kelly. The other bri- 
gade of Chalmers' division was that of McCul- 
loch, composed of men from Missouri, Texas and 
Mississippi. Rumors were rife, as usual, that we 
were on the eve of some important move, but 
those only in whose hands the duty of projecting cam- 
paigns had been placed knew what that move would 
be. Uncertainty brought no suspense to the minds 
of the men, as we had become accustomed to go with 
alacrity to the discharge of any duty assigned. To 
one who has studied closely the military situation at 
the time, it is plain that the affairs of the Confederacy 
had reached the desperate stage, though Forrest had 
subverted the plans of the Federals on the Memphis 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 137 

lines. The humblest of us could reflect that the terri- 
tory to which we had been assigned was only a small 
part of the country, and that our movements on the 
military chessboard w^ere scarcely noticed, except 
when Forrest had gained another brilliant victory. 
Think of it. The Confederacy had been cut in twain 
for more than a year by the opening of the Mississippi 
river ; Sherman had driven Joe Johnston from Dalton 
to Atlanta, and a hundred days of fighting had not 
barred the way of the Federals toward the sea. The 
first trial of arms between Lee and Grant had been 
made at the Wilderness, and Lee had failed, even by 
grand tactics, to permanently stay the flank move- 
ment of the overwhelming legions of Grant at Spott- 
sylvania, who was now moving steadily on the bloody 
road to Richmond. In the light which a knowledge 
of these conditions afforded, our immediate part of 
the war appeared comparatively insignificant. The 
reader well might ask how Forrest, or any other com- 
mander, could, under given conditions, keep up the 
fighting spirits of his men. We well know that he 
did this as long as he had occasion to lead his men in 
battle, but how he did it, or whence this power, I 
leave to the consideration of those philosophers who 
revel in the discussion of abstract questions of meta- 
physics. And I give them a thousand years to set- 
tle it. 



138 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

During the first days of September we were tak- 
ing a long ride over to the Mobile & Ohio Railroad. 
Cui honof We reasoned, of course, that as we had 
gotten rid of our immediate enemies, who had so long 
been troubling us, we should probably be sent to 
other fields of action. It finally came to light that 
affairs at Mobile were thought to be in such critical 
condition that Chalmers' division must be sent to 
that city at once. McCulloch's brigade was actually 
sent forward, while Rucker 's was at West Point, ready 
to take the cars. Before this information reached the 
men, the order was countermanded. So we did not 
go to Mobile, but our enterprising General was not 
idle. It was soon openly talked that he was project- 
ing a raid into Middle Tennessee, where he proposed 
to so damage the railroad between Nashville and 
Stephenson as to cut off Sherman's army at Atlanta 
from its base of supplies. Rucker had not yet as- 
sumed command of his new brigade, but it was 
thought he would do so before we started on the pro- 
jected expedition. The four Colonels of the brigade 
and the officer temporarily in command of Forrest's 
old regiment, evidently considering it a reflection on 
them for an outsider, and only a Colonel, to take pre- 
cedence over them, flatly refused to consent to the new 
arrangement. There was a great stir in camp at 
Sook-a-toncha bridge, near West Point. For a whole 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 139 

day nothing else was discussed and little else thought 
of. As might be supposed, there were two factions 
in the contest as to who should command the brigade. 
The humblest private was in evidence, and had some- 
thing to say in the spirited, though friendly, discus- 
sion. General Chalmers, with his staff, rode out to 
the camp and made an earnest address to officers and 
soldiers as to the necessity of obeying orders and dis- 
regarding personal ambition. The character and effi- 
ciency of the officers involved were favorably alluded 
to, but not an offensive word spoken. While speak- 
ing in rather a persuasive tone, he did not hesitate 
to make an earnest and honest declaration of his sen- 
timents. The address made a good impression, and, 
so far as I could see, the excitement was much less 
intense the following day, and, by the time the move- 
ment began, the rank and file looked upon the whole 
thing as a closed incident. The officers refusing to 
recognize the assignment of Rucker were placed in 
arrest upon the charge of insubordination, and sent 
to a distant post to await orders. I never heard of 
any action being taken by a court-martial in their 
cases, but I do know that they saw little more of the 
war, as they returned to the command only a few 
days before the surrender. The whole affair was un- 
pleasant to me because of my friendly attitude toward 

two of them — Colonel Duckworth, formerlv a Lieu- 
10 



140 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

tenant in the Haywood Rangers (Company D), and 
Colonel Neely, the first Captain of Company E. I 
knew the others by their reputations as true men and 
efficient commanders. The whole trouble might have 
been avoided, or at least deferred, for as it turned 
out, Colonel Rucker, still suffering with his wound, 
did not go on the raid at all, and Lieutenant-Colonel 
Kelly, the senior officer present, took charge of the 
brigade. It could not have fallen into better hands. 
No aspersion was cast on the character of Rucker as 
a man, or adverse criticism made of his capability 
as a commander. A man of great physical force and 
a fine horseman, he impressed men with his prowess 
in battle. Recklessly brave, he did not mind riding 
down an enemy, or engaging him in single combat. 
He helped to make the reputation of his old brigade 
as a body of fast and furious fighters. 

AVith Lieutenant-Colonel W. F. Taylor in command, 
the Seventh Tennessee moved up to Verona, and then 
to Tupelo. Here final preparations were made. And 
here General Forrest, from a platform made for the 
purpose, delivered a lively address to our brigade, 
a part of which was a scathing criticism of the action 
of the officers whom he had recently placed in arrest. 
He was full of his subject, and had language at hand 
to express his thoughts. 

September 16th, 1864. On this day 3,542 men le- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 141 

ported for duty, to which number Roddy's division 
was to bo added, making in all a force of about 4,500 
cavalry, artillery and dismounted men. The cavalry 
was to traverse the hypotenuse of a right triangle, 
reaching from Tupelo, Miss., to Cherokee, Ala., while 
General Forrest, his escort, dismounted men and 
everything on wheels, were to traverse the other two 
sides by way of Corinth and over railroads, which had 
been recently repaired. I never saw men in better 
spirits as the several commands took their places in 
line. I had good reason to feel glad in anticipation, 
as will be shown further along. Wlien the Fourteenth 
Regiment, passing the Seventh in line, was moving 
to its place in column. Colonel Raleigh White, seeing 
me lined up in my own company, insisted that I go 
with him on the raid, just as I had on the Memphis raid. 
Knowing that I could discharge my full duty, and 
that White would grant me any reasonable request 
w^hen we reached North Alabama, I joined him as* 
soon as the matter was arranged. As there was no 
necessity for rushing, we moved leisurely to Chero- 
kee. There was need that the command should be in 
good trim when it should reach the north side of the 
Tennessee river. Seeing from the orders that the 
conmiand was likely to remain at rest for a day or 
two, I determined to reach Florence, if possible, 
at least one day in advance. But I could not cross 



142 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

the river without a pass from General Forrest. Noth- 
ing daunted, I went straight to his headquarters, a., 
soon as I could get my plans mentally arranged, 
which, I now remember, was done with some degree 
of fear and trembling. He was absent. It might be 
fortunate, thought I, for I would lay my case before 
Major Strange, and get his opinion as to the merits 
of my plea. My desire to see my child must have 
touched a tender chord in his heart, as he said that 
the General would return by a certain hour, and that, 
if I would call again, I would likely get the pass. I 
was promptly on hand. Again the General was ab- 
sent. My feelings were now intense, for it was grow- 
ing late in the day. Seeing this, Major Strange gra- 
ciously and kindly said that he would furnish me 
with a document that would take me across the rivei 
and through all picket lines. I mounted my horse 
and made for the river, which I hoped to reach be- 
fore night. It was seven miles aw^ay, and I had no 
information as to where I might find a means of cross- 
ing. Somewhere in a long lane I happily met an old 
school fellow — Charlie Trimble of Tuscumbia — who 
could give me the necessary information. When I 
finished the last mile, it was growing so dark that 
the soldiers in charge would not venture to go ou 
the river in the rickety old boat. The prospect was 
now so good that I made myself content. At daylight 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 143 

next mornins: Little Black and I were on the bosom 
of the Tennessee, and nearing the northern shore. 
Poor fellow, he could go over with a dry skin now, 
but within a few days he must swim the same stream 
over a hundred miles below, where it was much larger 
and at floodtide. Now for the nearest road to Flor- 
ence. At Dr. McAlexander's, just as the family 
were sitting down to breakfast. Good coffee and hot 
biscuit. Lucky hit, thought I. A thousand thoughts 
of happy days come trooping in. For the nonce, I 
have forgotten the war and scenes of peace pass in 
review. 

" 'Tis sweet to hear the watchdog's honest bark 

Bay deep-mouthed welcome as we draw near home; 
'Tis sweet to know there is an eye will mark 

Our coming, and look brighter when we come. 
'Tis sweet to be awaken 'd by the lark, 

Or lull 'd by falling waters ; sweet the hum 
Of bees, the voice of girls, the song of birds, 

The lisp of children, and their earliest words." 

Was ever picture more divinely drawn? The last 
line — "the lisp of children and their earliest words" 
— arouses the tenderest emotions of the soul. 

I stopped at the Smith cottage, a well-known land- 
mark, just across from the Methodist Church. I gazea 



144 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

up at the old steeple in respectful silence, and felt 
glad to stand in its shadow once more. But I am 
now at the door of the cottage, which was closed. 1 
step along the veranda to an open window. Unob- 
served, I gaze for some moments on the picture with- 
in. To me, at least, "the prettiest and loveliest boy" 
in all the land, engaged in childish pranks with his 
colored nurse. I hesitated to break the spell, for it 
seemed to me that happiness had reached its full 
fruition. Ernest was a happy little boy in a happy 
home, for war times, as his aunt, the late Mrs. Henry 
W. Sample, was devoted to him as she had been de- 
voted to his mother. I never could repay her for 
all her kindness to me and mine, but I place here in 
print a sincere tribute to her memory as that of a 
noble woman, who was altogether unselfish, whoa*^ 
religion was a daily affair, w^ho cultivated a charita- 
ble spirit, who reached out her hand to those in trou- 
ble, and who went to her grave with the love and re- 
spect of the people among whom she had lived sev- 
enty-two years. 

On the 21st of September, 1864, Forrest's whole 
command crossed the Tennessee river. The artillery, 
wagon train and dismounted men were taken across 
in boats at Colbert's Ferry, while the whole mounted 
force passed the river at Ross' Ford, a short distance 
below. The latter is said to have furnished one of 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 145 

the most picturesque scenes of the war. The river 
at this point is seldom fordable and always danger- 
ous. A careful guide led the long column, marching 
by twos, along the winding shallows for over two 
miles, in order to avoid the dangerous places in the 
bed of the river, which at this point was scarcely 
a mile wide. There were no casualties, but many 
men lost their hats and other articles when their 
horses slipped on the rocks. On the morning of the 
22d Florence was all agog to see Forrest and his men, 
and pretty well filled up with Confederate soldiers, 
who, like myself, were making friendly or family 
calls. There were many small reunions of old friends, 
who never met again, on this seeming holiday in war 
times. In the early forenoon of a perfect day, For- 
rest, mounted on King Philip, and riding at the head 
of his escort, came in from the west, turned int'.. 
Court street and then into Tennessee street, running 
east. The streets were lined with men, women and 
children, whose shouts were ably supplemented by 
the yells of the visiting soldiers. To have stood on 
Mitchell's corner that day, as I did, would mark an 
event in a life otherwise filled with adventures. 

Conditions at Florence had changed somewhat for 
the worse since my last visit, nearly two years before. 
The country had been occupied alternately by the 
Federals and Confederates, and thousands of acres 



146 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

had gone to waste for the want of labor. There was 
hardly a worse overrun country in the South. Cloth- 
ing and food were hard to get with any kind of money. 
Of course, what might be termed Confederate devices 
were put into practice, and very plain living was the 
order of the day. 

Tarrying to the limit with loved ones whom I might 
never see again, I left Florence late at night to over- 
take the command the next day before it reached 
Athens. As I rode out towards the suburbs, the 
silence was so pronounced that Florence seemed to 
be a town of houses without inhabitants. I ap- 
proached the cemetery — to me a sacred spot — where 
the waters of the Tennessee, bounding over the rocks 
of Mussel Shoals, sing an eternal requiem to our dead. 
The monuments stood like sentinels at the graves of 
many whom I had known. Out on the hillside was* 
one erected by myself. I paused to ponder. Stillness 
reigned supreme, for it was midnight's solemn hour. 
No voice of man nor chirp of bird was on the air. 
No painful loneliness disturbed my soul, for silent 
friends were there. She, a mother for a short month 
only, about whom I was thinking, having died at the 
age of nineteen years, escaped the sorrow, trials and 
experiences of a cruel war. Perhaps it were well. 

General Forrest invested the Federal works at Ath- 
ens, about forty miles from Florence, late in the af- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 147 

ternoon of the 23d of September. There was no con- 
certed attack then, but careful dispositions were made 
for the next morning. An assault meant a dreadful 
slaughter of our men, as the works were strong, and 
held by about fourteen hundred well-drilled negro 
troops, officered by white men. At 7 o'clock the fire 
of all the artillery was concentrated upon the fort, 
and the cavalry, dismounted, moved up as if for as- 
sault. Forrest ordered his artillery to cease firing, 
and sent a flag of truce to the Federal commander, 
demanding a surrender. There was a parley and a 
refusal. Forrest then adopted his favorite plan of 
magnifying his own forces and intimidating his ad- 
versary. In a personal interview outside the fort, 
Forrest proposed to the Federal conunander that lie 
should take a ride around the lines, and see for him- 
self how well the Confederates were prepared for 
an assault. The proposition was accepted, but For- 
rest so manipulated his troops by dismounting and 
remounting and changing the position of his artillery, 
that the Federal commander was soon convinced thai 
the Confederates were sufficiently strong to make a 
successful assault. While the terms of the surrender 
were being arranged, a reinforcement of white troops 
arrived from Decatur, and made a determined eft'ort 
to cut their way through to the fort. This was met 
by the Seventh Tennessee and other regiments, ana 



148 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

a bloodj^ battle was fought before the Federals were 
captured. To complete the victory, the artillery was 
brought up to capture two blockhouses, which were 
held by about one hundred men. In the fight along 
the railroad, Lieutenant V. F. Ruffin of Company L, 
a promising young man and a splendid soldier, was 
killed. He was the only brother of two orphan sis- 
ters. Their loss was grievous. Our loss at Athens 
was five killed and twenty-five wounded. We cap- 
tured two trains, two locomotives, a large quantity of 
stores, two pieces of artillery, a number of wagons 
and ambulances, and three hundred horses. The Fed- 
eral loss in killed and wounded was considerable, 
including the death of the Colonel commanding the 
detachment from the direction of Decatur. Their 
loss in prisoners was about 1,900. 

As Colonel "White had been ordered to tear up por- 
tions of the railroad toward Decatur, I found it im- 
practicable to join him. Falling in with Captain 
John Overton, of Rucker's staff, we rode along our 
lines to view the situation. As Forrest was having 
an interview with the Federals, we concluded it would 
be perfectly safe for us to accept an invitation to 
breakfast at a nearby house. We had not more than 
dispatched that breakfast when firing was heard down 
the railroad. Overton mounted and rode rapidly to 
the position where part of our brigade was engaged. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 149 

There he had his fine blooded mare killed under him. 
Thirty-two years after that he walked into the sta- 
tion at Tiillahoma carrying what he said w^as a box 
of rattlesnakes. Oh, horrors! thought I. As he evi- 
dently did not fully recognize me, and only knew I 
was someone whom he had seen before, I said to 
him : "Captain, don't you remember something about 
a good breakfast you and I had together down in 
Athens W'heu we were younger men than we are 
now?" Brightening up, he replied: "Yes, but don't 
you remember about my losing my fine mare that 
morning?" John Overton's immediate or prospective 
wealth never puffed him up, or made any difference 
with him in his intercourse with all classes of men 
in the army. He had none of the graces of horseback 
riding, and moved about the camp much after tho 
manner of some plain farmer, when looking after the 
crop of crabgrass or considering the advisability of 
planting his potatoes in the dark of the moon. He 
w^as "a chip off the old block" — his grand old father, 
whom we sometimes saw in camp. 

Four miles north of Athens, a blockhouse, with 
thirty-two men was surrendered. We bivouacked for 
the night, thinking that we had made a fine begin- 
ning. Eleven miles from Athens, there was a strong 
fort, which protected what w^as known as Sulphur 
Branch trestle, a structure three hundred feet long 



150 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

and seventy-two feet high. In order to destroy this, 
it was necessary to capture the fort and two large 
blockhouses. Ou the morning of the 25th of Septem- 
ber, the Confederate artillery was concentrated on the 
fort, in which were several rude cabins covered with 
oak boards. At the same time, Forrest ordered a 
heavy force to advance on foot against the positioui. 
There was severe fighting for only a little while, as 
our artillery quickly scattered the lighter timbers and 
roofs of the cabins in every direction, and killed man> 
of the garrison. The Federals ceased firing, but dirt 
not display the white flag. Their commander had al- 
ready been killed, and there seemed to be great con- 
sternation in the fort. They surrendered as soon as 
a demand was made on them. This surrender in- 
cluded the two blockhouses. I saw no more horrid 
spectacle during the war than the one which the in- 
terior of that fort presented. If a cyclone had struck 
the place, the damage could hardly have been much 
worse. Here, again, the spoils were great, including 
three hundred cavalry horses and their equipments, 
a large number of wagons and ambulances, two pieces 
of artillery, all kinds of army stores, with nearly a 
thousand prisoners. Forrest was compelled now to 
send south a second installment of prisoners and cap- 
tured property under a strong guard, the first hav- 
ing been sent from Athens. Sulphur Branch trestle 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 151 

being demolished, we moved towards Pulaski. The 
lame and disabled horses were now replaced by cap- 
tured ones, and all the dismounted men, who had been 
crowded to the limit to keep up on the march, wer». 
furnished with horees. Some of our men were eu 
gaged in tearing up railroad track, while others were 
driving the enemy back towards Pulaski. Within six 
miles of the town we had heavy fighting, and again 
within three miles. At the former place, I saw the 
dead body of Stratton Jones, another schoolboy oi. 
mine, and the eldest son of Judge Henry C. Jones 
of Florence, now, perhaps, the oldest citizen of his 
city, and one of less than half a dozen of the sur- 
viving members of the Confederate Congress. 

At the Brown farm, still nearer to Pulaski, we cap- 
tured a corral containing about 2,000 negroes, who 
were being supported by the Federal commissary. 
They were a dirty and ragged lot, who were content 
to grasp at the mere shadow of freedom, Forrest 
ordered them to remove their filthy belongings from 
the miserable hovels, and set about two hundred of 
the latter on fire. Here was the richest depot of sup- 
plies I had seen since the capture of Holly Springs 
by Van Dorn. A bountiful supply of sugar and cot- 
fee was distributed to the men. Our horses were 
put in fine condition here by many hours of rest and 
good feed. Our loss for the day was about 100 in 



152 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

killed and wounded. That of the Federals was ver> 
much greater. 

The Federals, under General Rousseau, took lodg- 
ment within their works, which were very strong. 
Having made a spirited demonstration on the enemy '5i 
front, Forrest, after nightfall, leaving numerous 
campfires burning, just as Washington did the night 
before the battle of Princeton, drew off and took the 
road to Fayetteville. Having bivouacked a few miles 
out, we started at daylight for a ride of forty miles, 
which put us several miles east of that town. The 
country was fearfully rough and rocky, but the men 
and horses held up well. Some time during the fol- 
lowing day, September 29th, we reached the village 
of Mulberry. It was pleasant to see a large school 
in session and the boys and girls climbing upon the 
fence to see the soldiers. It was more like peace than 
war. But here was a pause, for Forrest concluded 
that it was impracticable to reach the Nashville & 
Chattanooga Railroad, because of the concentration of 
thousands of Federals along that line, for it was all- 
important to them to protect Sherman's communica- 
tion with his base of supplies. The plan now was that 
Buford should take 1,500 men, including Rucker'b 
brigade, under Kelley, and the artillery and wagons, 
march to Huntsville, capture the place, if possible, 
but, by all means, to push his trains towards some 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 153 

available crossino' on the Tennessee river, while For- 
rest was to take the rest of the command, swing around 
by Lewisburg, strike the railroad above Columbia, do 
all the damage possible, and hurry on to Florence. 

We kept up the march towards Huntsville till after 
nightfall, as it was necessary to make a bold feini, 
at least, against the position commanded by General 
Gordon Granger. I noticed Buford, who was a nota- 
bly large man, making his way that night on a 
very fine mule. He was one type of ye jolly Keu- 
tuckian, popular witii his men, and perfectly reliable 
in a fight. Our fifteen hundred men were so placed 
about the town as to make as big a show of force as 
possible. Before this could be done, it was so dar^ 
that a lantern was procured from some citizen, so 
that the usual flag of truce and demand for surrender 
could be sent in. There was the expected refusal, and 
a consequent delay till morning. In the meantime, 
our trains were moving rapidly towards Florence. 
After daylight, the best possible demonstration with- 
out too much exposure of our men was made, and was 
succeeded by another demand and another refusal 
to surrender. As General Granger expected to be 
attacked by the whole of Forrest's command, as had 
been intimated to him under the last flag of truce, 
he ordered women and children to be removed front 
the city, so as to avoid a bombardment by all of For- 



154 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

rest's artillery. There was great commotiou and dis- 
tress among the non-combatants, who had no means 
of finding out that they were really in no danger. 
The Federal artillery was sending an occasional shot, 
perhaps for the purpose of getting the range of our 
lines. One of these went straight down the pike lead- 
ing west, along which a few people were moving. 1 
saw two ladies and a boy abandon their carriage and 
advance rapidly through the open field in which I 
was standing, leaving the colored driver to get out of 
harm's way by rapid driving. Riding forward, I no- 
ticed that they were greatly excited and badly fright- 
ened. The party turned out to be old friends of mine, 
the wife of Professor Mayhew and son and Miss Sue 
Murphy, who became, after the war, the plaintiff in 
an historical lawsuit against the government for dam- 
age and loss of property at Decatur, in which she sus- 
tained her plea. I directed them how to get to the 
rear, and around to where their carriage had proba- 
bly gone. When the command drew off and took the 
road to Athens, I came upon this same party, who 
informed me that their trunks had been ransacked 
and their horses taken by some of our own men. I 
soon found the horses, and fastened the outrage upon 
men whom I knew. I lost no time in reporting the 
matter to Colonel Kelley, who ordered the horses to 
be turned over to a friend of the ladies. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 155 

It was found, when we reached Athens, that the 
fort, which had been surrendered to us only a few 
days before, was held by the Federals. There was 
some exchange of shots, and we had one man woundea. 
He caught in his mouth an ounce ball which had 
passed through the fleshy part of his jaw. He kept 
it as a nice little souvenir of a painful incident. Our 
part of Forrest's command reached Florence on the 
3d of October, and General Buford set about the task 
of getting to the south side of the river. The rains 
had been heavy in the mountains. The river was al- 
ready high for the season, and still rising. There 
were only three ferryboats with which to do all the 
work in hand. Reports came in that overwhelming 
numbers of the enemy were on the move to encompass 
the capture or defeat of Forrest, who arrived on the 
5tli of October. I knew that the situation would be 
critical, if they pressed us before we accomplished the 
passage of the river, but I concluded to remain in 
Florence till the Seventh Regiment came in, when 
I could join my own company. It came in on the 
7th, closely followed by the enemy. The Seventh, Sec- 
ond and Sixteenth Reigments stoutly resisted the ad- 
vance of the Federals at Martin's factory, on Cypress 
creek, just west of town. This was a strong position 
from which to resist a front attack, but a Federal bri- 
gade, crossing three miles above, came near taking us 
11 



156 NOTES OF A PRIVATE 

in reverse and capturing the three regiments. Our com- 
mand had an exciting experience from there to old 
Newport, where 'Forrest, in person, was trying to get 
as many men and horses as possible across to an island 
thickly set with timber and cane. From the shore to 
the island was fully two hundred feet. The horses 
were made to swim this space. In the absence of Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Taylor, who was wounded and sick, 
the regiment was commanded by Captain H. C. Mc- 
Cutchen of Company H, who received orders from 
Forrest to save his men, if possible, in any practicable 
way. The Federals were then right on us in great 
numbers, and still another column was reported to 
be advancing east from Waterloo. We did not know 
but that we were practically in the clutches of the 
enemy. The anxiety of the men had reached a high 
pitch. There was a determination to ride out of the 
situation at almost any risk. I was glad that I knew 
the country well enough to guide the six companies 
present to safety, if immediate danger could be 
passed. I moved right off from the river, through 
woods and fields, with the command following at a 
lively gait. My purpose was to cross the Florence and 
Waterloo road before the two columns of the enemy 
could form a junction, in which case we should havi. 
to cut our way out or surrender. I knew that body 
of men would ride through or over any ordinary re- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 157 

sistance in our front. When we crossed the Colbert's 
Ferry road, I felt that one danger was passed, but not 
the main one. Sometimes we took advantage of coun- 
try roads leading our way, but our course was north, 
regardless of roads. Our horses were smoking when 
we reached the desired highway, and we felt relieved 
when we saw the way clear. We halted to take a 
survey of the situation, and to perfect plans for get- 
ting into West Tennessee. It was decided to be best 
for the regiment to disperse, and the commander of 
each company to lead his men out of danger by what- 
ever means he should think proper to adopt. Com- 
pany D and Company E had gone into the service 
together, and it was natural that they should stand 
by each other in trouble. When these two companies 
got over into the hills of Wayne County, we hired u 
guerrilla guide, whom his followers called "Captain" 
Miller, to show us a place on the river where we could 
cross. His remuneration was a thousand dollars in 
Confederate money, which was likely more money ot 
any kind than he had ever seen in one lump. The 
people along the route cheerfully furnished us with 
supplies. I remember, we went down Trace creek 
and across the headwaters of Buffalo, and reached 
the river at the mouth of Morgan's creek, in Decatui 
County. Here was a booming river about a half mile 
wide, and no means of transportation but a large 



158 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

' ' dugout ' ' some eighteen or twenty feet in length. We 
had grown about reckless enough now to try the im- 
practicable and test the impossible. Three men with 
their horses and trappings were to make the first trip, 
two to bring back the boat, then three more men with 
their horses, to go with the two who had brought the 
boat back, and so on till all had crossed. Everybody 
worked. Two men took their places at the oars, while 
I sat in the stern, where I was to hold each horse by 
the bridle as he was pushed from the bank, which 
was four or five feet sheer down to the water. Little 
Black was the first to make the plunge. He made 
one futile effort to touch bottom, and sank up to his 
ears. I pulled him up by the reins, and slipped m> 
right hand up close to the bits, so as to keep his nose 
above the water. He floated up on one side and be- 
came perfectly quiet. I soon had the noses of the 
other tw^o close up to the boat. The men at the oars 
pulled for dear life against the booming tide, the 
swellings of which we could feel under the boat. Our 
object was to make an old ferry landing several hun- 
dred yards below. We had no fear for the horses now, 
for they were behaving admirably. Though the men 
at the oars exerted themselves to the limit, we missed 
the landing, and were carried some distance below it. 
When we did pull into shallow water, I turned the 
horses loose. My own horse was the first to mount a 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 159 

steep, slippery bank, where he shook himself, and, 
looking back, gave me a friendly nicker. The first 
trip was a success, and the men took on fresh cour- 
age. The work began at sunrise, and ended witli 
darkness. It added greatly to our critical situation 
that the Federal gunboats were liable to pass up or 
down at any moment. 

Forrest did not accomplish the chief object of the 
Middle Tennessee raid, as heretofore stated, which 
was the destruction of portions of the Nashville & 
Chattanooga Railroad, which connected Sherman's 
army, at Atlanta, with its base of supplies. He said 
afterward that he killed and captured, upon an aver- 
age, one man for every man he had in the fights. He 
tore up about one hundred miles of railroad, destroyed 
ten blockhouses, captured more supplies than his men 
could carry off and 800 horses, gathered up more 
than a thousand recruits, and marched five hundred 
miles in twenty-three days. He lost about three hun- 
dred men in killed and wounded. 

That a little fun can be mixed up with the horrors 
of war was illustrated on this trip somewhere over 
in the hills of Wayne. James E. Wood's little chest- 
nut sorrel, the horse which had been tendered by his 
owner to Captain Tate, as related in the account of 
the fight at Ripley, and from which that gallant offi- 
cer was shot, struck the frog of one foot against a 



160 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

stone and was rendered unserviceable. Austin Statler 
and Tom Joyner set about the task of helping their 
fellow-soldier to a remount. This was difficult to do 
in a country which had been stripped of all the good 
stock. The only animal available appeared to be h 
three-year-old, standing in an enclosure near an hum- 
ble cottage. Statler, in his blandest manner, ex- 
plained the situation to the mistress of the cottage, 
and alluded in earnest words to the fine points of the 
lame horse, which needed only a few days' rest to 
restore him to his former condition of usefulness. 
No, no; the old lady couldn't see it in the light in 
which it had been so earnestly presented. There were 
seven stout daughters standing by ready to assist their 
mother, who averred that the animal was ' ' Sal 's colt, ' ' 
and he couldn't have it upon any terms whatever. 
Statler persisted until high words resulted, and the 
soldiers advanced towards "Sal's colt." Thoroughly 
aroused, and reinforced by her mother and sisters, 
Sal herself, a buxom lassie, now came to the rescue, 
cleared the fence at a bound, and sat astride of the 
bridleless colt. Victory now seemed to perch upon 
the banner of the females, but the soldiers, who had 
no idea of seeing their comrade hotfoot it along the 
roads of "Wayne, moved to the assault, determined to 
capture the colt, but anxious to inflict no bruises upon 
their adversaries, who fought like wildcats. The 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 161 

contest was fast and furious, but in a class entirely 
by itself. There were blood and hair in evidence, but 
no mortal casualties. There were pinching and twist- 
ing, wrenching and wringing, clutching and hugging, 
yes, hugging, till the female side had mostly lost its 
wind and Sal, grasping the mane of the colt with the 
grip of despair, v.'hile she planted her heels in its sides, 
was gently lifted from her position by the gallant trio. 
' ' It was all over but the shouting. ' ' The bit was forced 
and the girth was buckled. "Sal's colt" had changea 
its politics and been mustered into the service of the 
Confederacy. The old lady intimated that "men 
folks" were at hand and ready to avenge all her 
wrongs. Statler, as a precautionary measure, rode 
uut in the direction indicated by her and saw three 
armed citizens approaching. With cocked gun and 
ready pistol he commanded them, with assumea 
bravado, to lead the way to the cottage, while he 
assured them that he, too, had "a whole gang in 
reach. ' ' Tableau vivant : An elderly man ' ' breath- 
ing out threatening and slaughter" and declaring 
that he would have satisfaction before the sun weni 
down ; two lusty young men with guns and in the 
poise of interested spectators; six bouncing young 
girls well distributed in the ensemble and joining in 
a chorus of abuse; an elderly woman standing in the 
kitchen door and wiping the sweat from her neck 



162 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

and ears with her checked apron, beaten but not con- 
quered; Sal perched upon the top rail of the front 
fence in the attitude of a show girl about to dance 
a hornpipe, and gazing at three vanishing cavaliers 
just then turning a corner and making time to over- 
take the command; lastly, the abandoned warhorse, 
which had heard the guns at Tishomingo, stripped 
of his trappings and "turned out to grass," was 
standing meekly by and looking as if he might be 
thinking he had no friends at all. 



CHAPTER XI. 



HOOD'S EXPEDITION— THE WILSON 
RAID TO SELMA. 



We had not more than gotten the last three men 
with their horses and accoutrements across the Ten- 
nessee river, as related in the preceding chapter, than 
two gunboats and two transports came puffing along. 
It was easy to conjecture what would have happened 
to five men and three horses, if our little craft with 
its burden had been met in midstream by the gun- 
boats. And yet we had been taking the risk ot 
being sunk or captured all that day. We rode leis- 
urely to Bolivar and the men dispersed to their homes 
for a much needed rest. 

Just as I was congratulating myself that I would 
have a few days for recuperation, several carbuncles 
developed on my body as a result of poor food and 
exposure. This affliction virtually placed me ori 
furlough from the middle of October till the middle 
of January. In the meantime, Forrest's Cavalry had 
assembled at Corinth and gone on an expedition to 
the Tennessee river, which finally culminated in the 
movement with Hood to Nashville. Others have writ- 
ten graphic accounts of how Forrest with a force ol 
three thousand men, cavalry and artillery, boldly at- 



164 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

tacked transports and gunboats and concluded his 
operations in that quarter by the total destruction of 
an immense depot of supplies at Johnsonville. He 
said himself that he captured and destroyed in two 
or three days four gunboats, fourteen transports, 
twenty barges, twenty-six pieces of artillery which, 
with stores destroyed, amounted to a money value of 
over six million dollars. He captured 150 prisoners, 
while his own loss was two killed and nine wounded. 
Altogether this was one of the most remarkable cam 
paigns of the whole war, and I have always somewhat 
regretted that I could not participate in its opera- 
tions. As for the expedition to Nashville which fol- 
lowed, I have always considered myself fortunate 
in having missed it. The history of it is a pitiful 
story and well worth reading, particularly by those 
who did not hear it from the lips of hundreds of 
brave men who gave vivid accounts of personal ex- 
periences. I began to hear these pitiful accounts 
early in January from soldiers returning to their 
homes in an utter state of demoralization. I began 
to consider whether or not I could recover my health 
and join Company E ere there was a collapse of the 
Confederacy. However, as the men of our regiment 
had been permitted to go to their homes for a few 
days, there was time for consideration. 

When I reported for duty at Verona, Miss., late 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 165 

in January, 1865, Colonel Richardson was in com- 
mand of Rucker's Brigjade, the ranks of which were 
filling up surprisingly well, considering the heav> 
blow we had received in the disastrous repulse ol 
our army in front of Nashville. Most of our men 
had spent some time at home and came in with new 
clothes and fresh horses. The rations were good but 
we had no tents. We constructed rude shelters with 
whatever timber was at hand, principally fence 
rails, and over this spread our rubber cloths. Then 
a good layer of corn stalks was placed for a floor and 
on this our army blankets. With a roaring log fire 
in front, we M'ere measurably comfortable. We reall> 
had little to do for some time. It was in this camp 
that it got to the ears of Colonel Richardson that A. 
S. Coleman, our sutler, who kept a variety of articles 
in store, was dealing out to the boys a poor article 
of Confederate whisky. Richardson determined to 
confiscate the sutler's whole stock of goods, and sent 
an officer to seize them. The members of Company 
E went to the rescue and, it being dark, succeeded, 
while Coleman was parleying with the officer, in 
"purloining" aU the goods on hand, which they car- 
ried out through the back of the tent and kept con- 
cealed till the trouble blew over. Coleman was soon 
doing business at the old stand. 

In February, 1865, Forrest was raised to the rank 



166 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

of Lieutenant-General and given the command of 
about ten thousand cavalry widely dispersed in Ala- 
bama, Mississippi and Louisiana. Joe Johnston hau 
superseded Hood and had transferred the remnant 
of our army further east to place it in the path ol 
Sherman who was marching north from Savannah 
through South Carolina. So far as our part of the 
country was concerned, it seemed to me then that 
the Federals would have had little trouble in sending 
in a large force and taking possession. With Forrest 
it was a case of gathering up the fragments, but man 
never went about anything more earnestly. His work 
had a telling effect. By a complete reorganization of 
the cavalry, the troops from each State were thrown 
into brigades and divisions of their own. This may 
have added somewhat to the morale of the command, 
but I do not know that it improved the fighting quali- 
ties of the men to any great extent. Certainly there 
was no better fighting body of men than Rucker's 
Old Brigade, composed of Tennesseeans and Missis- 
sippians. By the new arrangement, the Tennessee 
Division was commanded by W. H. Jackson. His 
two brigade commanders were A. W. Campbell and 
T. H. Bell. This division now had fat horses, good 
clothes and good rations. But every man there knew 
that our quasi holiday would be of short duration. 
Though the Confederacy seemed tottering to its fall, 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 167 

Jackson's Division was ready for a campaign. It did 
not have long to wait. Twelve thousand cavalry were 
assembled in North Alabama under General James H. 
Wilson, one of the most capable and enterprising 
commanders in the Federal army. Accompanied by 
an immense supply train and a commensurate amount 
of artillery, this best equipped of all Federal com- 
mands set out about the 22nd of March for Selma, 
Ala., which was a depot for Confederate stores ana 
the location of large factories of arms and annnuni- 
tion. Being provided with a pontoon train it had 
little trouble in crossing the swollen streams. It 
moved rapidly in a southeasterly direction. It was 
the task of Forrest to move east from Columbus, 
Miss., fall upon Wilson's right flank, defeat such de- 
tachments as he could cope with, destroy his trains, 
if possible, and finally beat him to Selma. Forrest's 
plans involved the possibility of throwing his whole 
force against that of Wilson in some favorable posi- 
tion east of Tuskaloosa and to risk the consequences 
of the greatest cavalry battle ever fought on the con- 
tinent. How near we subordinates were to witness- 
ing a great event impending and yet how ignoran^t 
we were of it ! Unforeseen difficulties lay in For- 
rest's path while he was apparently making super- 
human efforts to concentrate his forces for a great 
battle in which his enemy would number fully two to- 



168 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

one. It is painful even to conjecture what the con- 
sequences of such a battle might have been. But 1 
anticipate. Prior to the movement towards Selma I 
had been detailed for duty with the provost guard of 
Campbell's Brigade, which was agreeable to me be- 
cause of the fact that I had not entirely recovered my 
health, and would have more privileges on the road, 
though no less responsible service. Our chief duty 
was to move in the rear and to prevent straggling. It 
turned out on this expedition to be a position of great 
danger. 

We passed through Columbus, Miss., and took the 
road to Tuskaloosa. We moved all day and much of 
the night over muddy roads, miry swamps and rug- 
ged hills. Our great commander had the details all 
in his mind, but we had only a vague idea that we 
would have to fight at almost any turn in the road. 
This was an army of veterans, who had been tried 
in the fire. Jackson's Division was a long way from 
home, but was ready for a last desperate struggle in 
a strange land. It looked like a forlorn hope, for Lee 
was falling back upon Appomattox and Johnston was 
in a death struggle with Sherman. But the defeat of 
Wilson's cavalry would mean its destruction and the 
capture of his trains. Such a victory here might 
change the face of things within a few hours, as we 
had no idea that anv one of our armies would so soon 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 169 

surrender. Anyhow, the men were there to obey 
orders and to do their whole duty. We were at 
Sipsey river and the column was moving slowly 
through its slashy bottom. A weird looking place 
where the foliage of the heavy timber largely shut 
out the light of day. A rumor came down the line 
that two soldiers, at the instance of a drum-head 
court-martial, had been shot to death for desertion. 
As the provost guard closed up the column it passed 
the dead men lying one on each side of the road with 
their heads against trees. Their hats had been placed 
over their faces, but labels written in large letters 
told the story : Shot for Desertion. It was said at the 
time that this was intended as a deterrent to deser- 
tion. It may have had the effect intended. It would 
be passing over it most kindly to state that the affair 
caused a profound sensation. It would be nearer the 
truth to say that, with the rank and file, it met with 
pronounced condemnation. Only one other writer 
has touched upon this incident, and he was not on 
the ground as I was. Therefore, he could not speak 
personally concerning what might be called the popu- 
lar verdict of the soldiers. He does say, in substance, 
that the execution was extremely unfortunate, though 
coming within the province of military law, in that 
the declaration of the victims that the older was above 
the military age and the younger was under it turned 



170 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

out to be true in every particular. It was a mattei 
of common talk that the men were Kentuckians, who 
had nothing on their persons by which they could be 
identified, and that there was no proof adduced to 
show that they belonged to our cavalry. They were 
possibly deserters from some arm of the Confed- 
erate service, but the prevailing sentiment, which is 
a force to be reckoned with in a volunteer army, was 
that a drum-head court-martial, instituted on the 
march and when the command was practically in the 
presence of the enemy, could not exercise that calm 
consideration and quiet deliberation required in a 
case where human life was involved. While, as a gen- 
eral proposition, it were well not to tear open old 
wounds, yet it were also well to state exact facts in 
history, in order that the mistakes of the past ma> 
enable those who come after us to avoid errors in the 
future. The power of all Confederate courts-martial 
was flitting fast, and the bloody hand, under all the 
circumstances in this case, might well have been 
stayed. Everybody was glad to change the scene 
and the subject of thought, for death has no attrac- 
tive form. Tuskaloosa was a fine old Southern town, 
with palatial homes, wide streets, shaded by three 
rows of water oaks, well kept yards, extensive flower 
gardens, and a large complement of pretty women. 
The gates were open and the city was ours for the 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 171 

asking. They had never seen a Southern army, and 
more than that, they had never imagined the like ot 
Forrest's cavalry as, brimful of fight, it moved 
along their lovely streets. Alas ! all this, Mithin three 
d£-.ys. was to be in the grasp of men who did not 
hesitate to apply the torch even to the State Uni- 
versity. 

As we entered the extensive piney woods section 
east of Tnskaloosa, we were critically near the right 
flank of the enemy, pushing on towards Selma. Crox- 
ton's Federal Brigade had been detached to destroy 
the Confederate supplies at Tnskaloosa and burn 
the university. It so happened that this brigade 
dropped into the road between the rear of Jackson's 
Cavalry and the front of his artillery and wagon 
train. If the Federals had continued to move west, 
they inevitably would have captured the trains. They 
turned east to follow the cavalry, and Jackson being 
apprised of this made the proper disposition to fall 
upon them in camp in the early morning. In the 
meantime, Croxton had changed his mind and had 
turned again to march, as luck would have it, by 
another road to Tuskaloosa, without knowing that he 
had our trains so nearly within his grasp. As it 
was, Jackson ran on his rear company in camp and 
captured men, horses and ambulances. Croxton flea 

north with his command, crossed the Warrior fort> 
12 



172 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

miles above, turned south and reached Tuskaloosa, 
where he carried out his orders. This was the 3rd 
day of April, and he was now so far separated from 
his chief that he did not join him at Macon, Ga., till 
the 20th of May. When Jackson turned to pursue 
Croxton, unfortunately another detachment under 
one of the Fighting McCooks, took possession of the 
bridge over the Cahawba, where Forrest with his 
escort had already crossed, and where we were ex- 
pected to cross. They boldly came to the west side 
and put themselves across our path at the village oi 
Scottsville. That night the woods seemed to be full 
of them. Some of our men, getting out to do the 
usual little "buttermilk foraging" met some Yanks 
at a farm house where Johnny Reb thought he had 
the exclusive privilege. There was a tacit consent 
to a truce while they shared such good things as the 
farmer had to contribute. The next morning, April 
2nd, Bell's Brigade of Jackson's Division collided 
with a part of McCook's men and rapidly pushea 
them back to Centerville. They completely blocked 
our way by burning the bridge over the Cahawba. It 
was now impossible for Jackson to join Forrest on the 
road from Montevallo to Selma, where with Roddy's 
Cavalry and Crossland's small brigade of Ken- 
tuckians, he and escort were fighting to the death 
to hold Wilson in check till the Confederate divis- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 173 

ions could be concentrated and hurled against those 
of the Federals in one grand conflict. The Federals, 
having intercepted certain dispatches of Forrest and 
Jackson, knew just how to subvert their plans. Wil- 
son, seeing that there was now no chance for Jack- 
son to fall upon his rear, according to the original 
plan of Forrest, pushed his forces with all his en- 
ergy in the direction of Selma. Forrest, being re- 
inforced by some militia and two hundred picked men 
of Armstrong's Brigade of Chalmers' Division, on 
the first day of April, did some of the fiercest fight- 
ing of the war, much of it hand to hand. At Bogler's 
creek near Plantersville, it was at close quarters with 
two thousand against nine thousand, but the Con- 
federates had the advantage of position. The Federal 
advance was a regiment of veteran cavalry who 
charged with drawn sabers. The Confederates re- 
ceived them at first with rifles and closed in with six- 
shooters, most of the men having two each. The Con- 
federates being forced back by a flank movement, 
there was a bloody running fight for several miles. 
From the desperate character of the fighting here, it 
might be inferred that the great contest, planned to 
take place along these lines, would have been terrific, 
if Forrest, Jackson, Chalmers and Roddy could have 
joined their forces. 

When the Confederates were crowded into Selma 



174 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

the next day, their lines were so attenuated that the 
Federals, with overwhelming numbers, assailed the 
works and carried them, though with very heavy loss. 
Night was coming on as the contest ended and th& 
streets were filled with Federals and Confederates in 
the greatest possible confusion. This enabled For- 
rest and Armstrong, with hundreds of their men, to 
find an opening through which they rode out and es- 
caped in the darkness. In doing this, Forrest cut 
down his thirtieth man in the war, which closed his 
fighting career. 

I had more than ordinary anxiety in regard to the 
fighting in front of Selma, as I had a brother with 
Armstrong and a brother-in-law with Roddy. The 
former escaped with Armstrong, but the latter, Wiley 
Hawkins of Florence, a mere youth, the last of four 
brothers to die during the war, was killed at Bogler's 
creek. 

With Forrest's Cavalry the w^ar was over. His 
command had fired its last gun at Selma. At Marion, 
Greensboro, Eutaw, and finally at Sumterville, wher-? 
Jackson's Division had its last camp, we found the 
very best type of Southern people. They had really 
seen very little of the war, though sorrow had been 
brought to many a home by the casualties of battle. 
Here was a lovely country in which a war-worn sol- 
dier could sit down to commune with nature, where 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 175 

she was never more beautifully and bountifully mani- 
fested in birds, flowers and fertile fields. It was so 
restful to the soul to know that we were done with 
guns and bloody work. The present was the pres- 
ent, the future was the future. We were taking care 
of the present. We would take care of the future 
when we got to it. Wliipped or not, we had lovea 
ones at home and were going to them ; whipped or 
not, we felt assured that we had done our duty t'.. 
our prostrate country, which never had more than 
the shadow of a chance for the success of a separate 
existence ; whipped or not, we could face those who 
had urged us to go to the war, and say that we had 
fought it to a finish. It perhaps seems strange to 
many that there was no weeping or wailing, at least 
about where I was, because of the defeat of Southern 
hopes. I account for this upon the hypothesis that 
both officers and privates had been, for nearly two 
years, contemplating not only the possibility but the 
probability of defeat, and were therefore mentally 
prepared for almost anything which fate should de- 
cree. Certainly, the consensus of opinion was, that 
many mistakes had been made by the civil and mili- 
tary authorities during the four years of war, but 
there was no intense spirit of criticism. Whethei 
a Confederate soldier thought that everything pos- 
sible had been done, with the limited resources ai. 



176 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

hand, or not, he was very apt to be of the opinion 
that some means should have been brought into play- 
to stop the war long before it was. I am of the 
opinion that the diligent student of history has come 
to the same conclusion. Why so many held on so 
tenaciously to a cause that had grown so desperate, 
I have tried to show on other pages. Duty and honor 
are the chief elements in a long story, though this 
statement of the case can hardly be so well appre- 
ciated by the present generation as by the active 
participants in the war. 

The following excerpt is taken from Destruction 
and Beconstruction, by Lieutenant-General Dick Tay- 
lor, the only son of the last Whig president, and a 
man whose mental acumen was of the sharper kind, 
and whose varied learning would have graced any 
court: "Upon what foundations the civil authorities 
of the Confederacy rested their hopes of success, 
after the campaign of 1864 fully opened, I am unable 
to say ; but their commanders in the field, whose rank 
and position enabled them to estimate the situation, 
fought simply to afford statesmanship an opportuni- 
ty to mitigate the sorrows of inevitable defeat." 

This comports well with what I heard Confederate 
States Senator James Phelan of Mississippi, say, more 
than forty years ago, to the effect that the politicians 
at Richmond consumed most of their time in discus- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 177 

sing abtruse questions of constitutional law and other 
subjects that might well have been deferred till the 
armies in the field could settle the question of inde- 
pendence. I took it that he thought there was little 
use for a constitution in a time of revolution or rebel- 
lion, but the chief concern should have been the per- 
fecting of such measures as would strengthen our 
armies and achieve victories. It was well known that 
there were jealousies and dissensions among the of- 
ficers of our armies from the beginning to the clost 
of the war. What was at first war gossip became 
of record as soon after the surrender as some of these 
were able to contribute to our current literature. 
Posterity will be asking why some of the serious ac- 
cusations made were not, at the proper time, brought 
to the notice of a court-martial. 

When the future historian comes to make up the 
simi total of the causes which led to the downfall 
of the Confederacy, he will have only a written record 
to draw from, and will possibly be perplexed in his 
endeavor to pronounce an honest judgment in regard 
to men who, though differing so widely in opinion, 
were believed to be brave and patriotic. 



CHAPTER XII. 



CONCLUSION. 



When I was a boy in Anson county, North Carolina, 
where I was born "with a full suit of hair" about 
the time "the stars fell," I had two brothers living 
in Sumter county, Alabama, which was said be six 
hundred miles away. That seemed to me then to be 
about as much as six thousand miles seem now. It 
was an inscrutable order of Providence that, after 
having lived in four others States, attended two col- 
leges, become the father of a family, and served four 
years in a great civil war, I should lay down my arms 
in that same Sumter county. 

The details of surrender were all arranged with- 
out the appearance of a Federal officer in our camp, 
the same being conducted in the most punctilious 
manner and without any effort to humiliate. We 
were pleased to learn that the same terms upon which 
Lee and Johnston had surrendered would be accorded 
to us. The officers retained their arms and horses 
and the men their horses. Blank paroles were fur- 
nished by the Federals. Those of Company E wen 
filled out in my handwriting. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 179 

The noble address of General Forrest, urging his 
men to become as good citizens in peace as they had 
been soldiers in war, was pronounced entirely ap- 
propriate and a model in sentiment and expression. 

The ceremony of tearing up the flag, fashioned 
from the bridal dress of an Aberdeen lady, was gone 
through with and small bits of it distributed among 
the soldiers and officers of the Seventh Tennessee 
Regiment. I did not think then that this was exactly 
the thing to do and have regretted the proceeding 
since, particularly because of the liberality of the 
Federal government in restoring the captured flag>j 
of the Southern States. Ours was a regular confed- 
erate flag and made of such material that it could 
have been preserved indefinitely. 

In our camp it was ' ' pretty well, I thank you ; how 
do you do yourself?" Billy Yank, Jolmny Reb, or 
anybody else — a pleasant abandon in regard to en- 
vironments and no thought of prolonging the war 
beyond the Mississippi or helping Maximilian to a 
throne in Mexico. We were going home. The direct 
road to Bolivar, Tenn., over two hundred miles in 
length, was uppermost in our minds. At Macon, 
Miss., we drew our last rations, which were bounti- 
ful, as there was now no need of economy, and we 
had a long road before us. The men were entirely 
without official restraint, but those of Company E 



180 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

preserved their organization till we reached Sauls- 
bury, Tenn., where we gave the first friendly salute 
to Federal soldiers, and the men went their several 
ways. I was riding the last few miles with three of 
my former pupils. That dear good fellow and gal- 
lant little soldier, James E. Wood, the man who rode 
' ' Sal 's colt, ' ' but has been more recently a well known 
editor and a distinguished member of the Arkansas 
senate, turned off at Middleburg and left George 
Bright, now of Danville, Ky., and Billy Myrick, long 
since dead, with me to face the folks at home. 

The transition from soldier to citizen was easy. 
By a dive into my ancient wardrobe, I secured sever- 
al articles of wearing apparel, among them a Prince 
Albert coat. I was not exactly a la mode, or what- 
ever the French say, but with a new blockade hat 1 
felt "mighty fine," and doubtless looked as innocent 
of war as the Goddess of Peace. ''Whatsoever cometh 
to your hands to do, do it with all your might." I 
acted upon that. I opened a summer session of the 
Bolivar Male Academy in the railway station on the 
31st of May, 1865. The Academy building had been 
defaced by the Federal army to such an extent that 
it was untenable, and we had no ears running for 
more than three months. So much changed had con- 
ditions become that of the sixty-six pupils in school 
in May, 1861, only four, James J. Neely, Jr., George 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 181 

B. Peters, Jr., James Fentress, Jr., and Charles A. 
Miller, returned to greet me. Seventeen of the sixty- 
six entered the army, fourteen as members of Com- 
pany E and three as members of other commands. 
Four of the fourteen were killed on the field and all 
of the others served till the close of the war. Eleven 
of the seventeen are dead and six are living. 

The station was a pleasant place for a summer ses- 
sion and boys were so anxious for instruction that 
I was soon teaching seven hours a day. They wanted 
Latin and Greek and mathematics, and we went at 
them with a will. The roots of the verbs and the 
rules of syntax had only lain dormant in my own 
mind during the four years and were easily recalled. 
The work became so much a part of my life, and the 
homelike feeling of the schoolroom returned so 
readily, that an assurance of my forty-odd years 
of like employment would have come as a pleasing 
announcement. But so it is, the forty years and more 
have come and gone, and I am still walking among my 
fellows, hardly knowing how to put on the ways of 
an old man, but in good humor with all the world. 
I have concluded to conclude this book with the fol- 
lowing conclusions: 

1. That it is an everlasting pity the war was. not 
averted because of the great mortality of good citi- 
zens on both sides, the backset given to the morals 
of the whole country, the sectional feeling engendered 



182 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

and likely to endure for a season, and the loss of 
wealth and prestige by the Southern people. 

2. That the victors in a civil war pay dearly for 
their success in the demoralization of the people at 
large by having so numerous an element supported by 
the government ; in the rascally transactions connected 
with army contracts; and in the enlargement of 
that class of pestiferous statesmen ( ? ) who have beeu 
aptly described as being "invisible in war and in- 
vincible in peace." 

3. That the most peaceful of Southern men caii 
be readily converted into the most war-like soldiers^, 
when convinced that they have a proper grievance ; 
can march further on starvation rations and in all 
kinds of weather, and will take less note of disparity 
of numbers in battle than will any other soldiers on 
earth. 

4. That the South, in the war period, was es- 
sentially a country of horseback riders, and her young 
men furnished the material out of which was formed, 
when properly handled, regiments of cavalry that 
were practically invincible, even when confronting 
an adversary of twice or thrice their own strength. 

5. That Forrest's men demonstrated the fact that 
Southern cavalrymen, fighting on foot, can meet, with 
good chances of victory, a superior number of veteran 
infantry in the open field. 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 183 

6. That in cavalry operations, the most essential 
thing is a bold and dashing leader, who will strike 
furiously before the enemy has time to consider what 
is coming, and with every available man in action. 

7. That Nathan Bedford Forrest, by his deeds in 
war, became an exemplar of horseback fighting, whose 
shining qualities might well become the measure of 
other deeds on other fields when war is fiagrant. 

8. That there is not an instance recorded where 
so large a body of defeated soldiers returned so con- 
tentedly to their former pursuits, "beating their 
swords into ploughshares and their spears into prun- 
ing hooks;" yes, thousands of them going ihto the 
fields to plough and plant with the same horses they 
rode in battle. 

9. That the unpreparedness of both sides at the 
beginning of the war emphasizes the necessity for a 
thorough preparedness of our united country for any 
emergency, that is to say, that while Uncle Sam 
needs not to be strutting around "with a chip on his 
shoulder," and his hat cocked up on the side of his 
head, he should be able to say to "the other fellow" 
that he is rich in men and munitions and, moreover, 
has the finest navy that floats. 



APPENDIX. 



FORREST'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. 



Fitted to the occasion and apt in expression, the 
reading of this address falls upon the ear like that 
of a classic, while it does not suffer by comparison 
with more pretentious compositions of its kind. Com- 
ing from an unlettered man at an eventful period, 
as did Lincoln's Gettysburg address, or Chief Logan's 
speech, though written in small compass, it leaves, 
like them, little else to be said. In sentiment, it is 
lofty and full of patriotic fire. In literary form, 
though somewhat rugged, like the character of its 
author, it exhibits qualities of a trained writer, eh- 
pecially in that it teems with cogent expressions in 
proper connection, which are fully explanatory of 
the situation. It is a heart-word of a great com- 
mander to his soldiers, an appeal to their better in- 
stincts, a piece of sound advice upon which they were 
quick to act. To be its author brings more renown 
than can equestrian statues or tablets in bronze. 
Headquarters Forrest's Cavalry Corps, 

Gainesville, Ala., May 9, 1865. 

Soldiers: By an agreement between Lientenant- 
General Taylor, commanding the Department of Ala- 




THK FORREST EiJl'ESTRIAN STATUE, 
FORREST PARK. MEMPHIS, TENN 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 185 

bama, Mississippi and East Louisiana, and Major- 
General Canby, commanding United States forces, 
the troops of this Department have been surrendered. 

I do not think it proper or necessary, at this tim«, 
to refer to the causes which have reduced us to this 
extremity ; nor is it now a matter of material conse- 
quence to us how such results were brought about. 
That we are beaten is a self-evident fact, and any 
further resistance on our part would be justly re- 
garded as the very height of folly and rashness. 

The armies of General Lee and General Johnston 
having surrendered, you are the last of all the troops 
of the Confederate States Army, east of the Missis- 
sippi river, to lay down your arms. 

The cause for which you have so long and so man- 
fully struggled, and for which you have bravea 
dangers, endured privations and sufferings, and made 
so many sacrifices, is today hopeless. The government 
which we sought to establish and perpetuate is at an 
end. Reason dictates and humanity demands that 
no more blood be shed. Fully realizing and feeling 
that such is the case, it is your duty and mine to lay 
down our arms, submit to the powers that be, and aid 
in restoring peace and establishing law and order 
throughout the land. 

The terms upon which you were surrendered are 
favorable, and should be satisfactory and acceptable 



186 NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 

to all. They manifest a spirit of magnanimity and 
liberality on the part of the Federal authorities, 
which should be met, on our part, by a faithful com- 
pliance with all the stipulations and conditions ther^. 
in expressed. As your Commander, I sincerely hopt 
that every officer and soldier of my command will 
cheerfully obey the orders given, and carry out in 
good faith all the terms of the cartel. 

Those who neglect the terms and refuse to be pa- 
roled may assuredly expect, when arrested, to be seni 
North and imprisoned. 

Let those who are absent from their commands, 
from whatever cause, report at once to this place, or 
to Jackson, Mississippi ; or, if too remote from either, 
to the nearest United States post or garrison, foi 
parole. 

Civil war, such as you have passed through, natur- 
ally engenders feelings of animosity, hatred and re- 
venge. It is our duty to divest ourselves of all such 
feelings ; and, as far as in our power to do so, to cul- 
tivate friendly feelings toward those Avith whom we 
have so long contended, and heretofore so widely, but 
honestly, differed. Neighborhood feuds, personal ani- 
mosities, and private differences should be blotted 
out; and when you i'eturn home, a manly, straight-- 
forward course of conduct will secure the respect 
even of your enemies. Whatever your responsibilities 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 187 

may be to government, to society, or to inciividuals. 
meet them like men. 

The attempt made to establish a separate and inde- 
pendent Confederation has failed ; but the conscious- 
ness of having done your duty faithfully and to the 
end will, in some measure, repay you for the hard- 
ships you have undergone. 

In bidding you farewell, rest assured that you car- 
ry with you my best wishes for your future welfare 
and happiness. AVithout, in any way, referring to 
the merits of the cause in which Ave have been en- 
gaged, your courage and determination, as exhibited 
on many hard-fought fields, have elicited the respect 
and admiration of friend and foe. And I nov» 
cheerfully and gratefully, acknowledge my indebted- 
ness to the officers and men of my command, whose 
zeal, fidelity and unflinching bravery have been the 
great source of my success in arms. 

I have never, on the field of battle, sent you wdiere 
I was unAvilling to go myself ; nor would I now advise 
you lo a course which I felt myself unwilling to pui- 
sne. You Itave hccn good soldiers; you can be good 
citizens. Obey the laws, preserve your honor, and 
the Government lo which you have surrendered can 
afford to be, and will be, magnanimous. 

N. B. FORREST, Lieutenant-General. 
13 



A KINDLY REMEMBRANCE. 



After a lapse of forty-four years, the author readi- 
ly recalls to mind the names of most of the one hun- 
dred and eighty-nine men who were, first and last, 
enlisted in Company E, Seventh Tennessee Cavalry. 
As a token, either of friendship, begotten by asso- 
ciation in the hardships of camp and march, or of 
gallantry on the field, these names are herewith pre 
served : 

Captains J. J. Neely, W. J. Tate, J. P. Statler, 
Lieutenants T. G. Patrick, W. W. McCarley, Leonidas 
Bills, J. Fiske AVeaver, T. N. Crawford, Hardy Har- 
ris, W. C. Mashburn, and V. F. Ruffin. 

Dr. Joe F. Allen, John Allen, John AV. Bradford, 
Dr. F. N. Brown, R. U. Brown, E. P. Blaylock, Stan- 
ton Blaylock, R. L. Billington, Geo. P. Bright, Sani 
Breden, Tom Boucher, J. E. Carraway, N. B. Cross, 
W. H. Caruth, George Campbell, A. S. Coleman, S. 
H. Clinton, W. T. Campbell, Israel Dougherty, J. B. 
David, John A\". Duncan, D. E. Durrett, R. D. Dur- 
rett, James F. Dunlap, William Elkins, Joe Erwin, 
James Fentress, Francis Fentress, John T. Fortune, 
William Fulghum, J. V. Field, Alex. Gilchrist, Jamtv 
H. Grove, Sam Gibson, J. AY. Gillespie, Thomas Gil- 



NOTES OF A PRIVATE. 189 

lespio, Jesse Gibson, Orris Harris, James Hackney, 
Morris Hartigan, J. T. Hundley, C. L. Harrison, Mat 
Hornsby, N. E. Hughes, W. C. Hardy, Jerome Hill, 
J. Tom Joyner, John J. Lambert, Morris Lay, AV. C. 
Lewis, C. B. LintHicum, AVilliam McKinney, David 
T\IcKinney, P. H. INTcKiniiie, B .F. Mashburn, J. E. 
Mashburn, Dr. R. M. Mayes, AV. T. Myrick, James 
Moore, W. R. Nelson, Dr. J. W. Nelson, Charles R. 
Neely, R. K. Neal, G. C. Neil, Sol Phillips, William A. 
Polk, A. H. D. Perkins, Dock Pipkin, Austin M. Stat- 
ler, Tom Turney, P. B. Tatum, R. G. Tatuin, Sherrill 
Tisdale, Eli Terry, W. A. Taylor and James H. 
AVeatherly. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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